Bears Load Up on Tech Puts Before Earnings Week

Options markets are flashing caution signals across tech as a cluster of major software earnings loom this week.

NVIDIA, Micron Technology, Tesla, and Advanced Micro Devices attracted the highest negative options bets volume over the past seven days. Both bullish and bearish flows concentrated in the same names — a sign of elevated two-way tension, not directional conviction.

The most prominent earnings anxiety surrounds Adobe and Oracle. Adobe reports Q3 2026 results shortly. Its short interest sits at 4.6% of free float. Oracle's short interest is a lean 2.9% — but options traders appear to see downside risk. Oracle is down 18.5% year-to-date.

Salesforce and Autodesk are also in the spotlight. Both received analyst upgrades this week. Yet ORTEX data shows "bears piling in" ahead of results — suggesting options traders are hedging against disappointment despite the positive analyst tone.

GameStop stands out for a different reason. Its days-to-cover sits at 25.1 — among the highest in the US market. That level of short crowding makes it a target for squeeze dynamics if options flow turns bullish rapidly.

Semiconductor stocks dominate both sides of the ledger. Broadcom, AMD, and NVIDIA all show elevated two-way bets. Broadcom is down just 3.4% year-to-date and reports Q3 results soon — making it a focal point for directional options traders.

The overall picture: earnings anxiety is driving put buying across software and chips. Watch for sharp post-results moves.