Options bears are piling into semiconductor names. NVDA leads negative options bets by raw dollar volume this week. MU tops the bearish flow table after a 226% year-to-date run. Traders appear to be locking in protection at elevated prices. AMD faces similar pressure after surging 117% YTD.
Defense is splitting in two. DRS sold off hard Friday while LMT, LHX, and NOC held steady. DRS's RSI dropped to 28.9 — near extreme oversold territory.
Short sellers are building positions in software and clean energy. KVYO saw SI jump nearly 7 points in a week to 19.9% of free float. FLNC sits at 28.9% — high for the clean-energy space. SOFI is also drawing fresh shorts as fintech sentiment sours on rate uncertainty.
Autodesk drew three separate target price increases Friday. UBS raised to $325. The analyst consensus now sits at $315. Enterprise software peers WDAY and ADBE also saw shorts retreat as sell-side sentiment improved.
Bill Gates filed $167M in RSG purchases this week. The trades ran August 20–25. Separately, Evolution AB's EVO saw shareholder Kenneth Dart disclose $715M in purchases — trades made in late July but only filed August 26.
DELL and MDT headline a busy week of results starting Tuesday. CIEN and CPB follow later in the week. AI server demand and margin recovery are the key themes to watch.
ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
