Semiconductor options flow is in focus today. A volatile week for chip stocks culminated in a sharp dilution move from QCOM. The company filed a prospectus for 25 million new shares, catching traders off guard.
QCOM's ORTEX short score sits at 36.7. Its RSI stands at 50, right on the fence. The share sale dampens the YTD gain, which was running at just 6.5% before the news.
The broader chip sector drew the heaviest negative options bets of any US industry over the past week. MU leads the sector with a perfect ORTEX stock score of 100 but its YTD run of 284% makes it a natural target for put protection. NVDA carries a short score of 30 and an RSI of 60, with analysts seeing 42% further upside. Despite that, bearish options bets in semiconductors are outpacing bullish ones.
AMD shows an RSI of 67. It has rallied 188% year to date. Elevated momentum stocks like AMD and INTC, up 225% this year, typically attract put-heavy flow as traders lock in gains heading into Q3 earnings season.
ARM carries the sector's highest short score at 52. Its 167% YTD run and negative analyst return potential of -1.2% make it a candidate for continued hedging. The sector backdrop is complicated by macro stress. Euro-area HICP inflation rose to 3.8% in September, a third straight monthly increase. German inflation also climbed for a third consecutive month to 3.3%. Rising rates pressure high-multiple chip names and tend to shift options flow toward protection.
Traders watching QCOM's dilution move closely. The next read comes from Q3 earnings, due soon.
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.
