Bears Load Up on Chips Despite Rally

Bearish options bets are heaviest in semiconductors this week. NVDA, AMD and MU top the negative options flow table by volume over the past seven days, even as chip stocks staged a partial rebound on Wednesday.

CRWV (CoreWeave) carries a short score of 65 and leads the negative bets screen among smaller names. Its RSI sits at 30.8, deep in oversold territory. The stock is down 13% year to date.

Yet the macro backdrop for semiconductors looks sharply different. Taiwan export orders hit $114.2 billion in September 2026, up 62% year on year and the largest September reading since records began in 1984, according to ORTEX Alt Data. TSM shares a direct link to that demand cycle and carries an analyst return potential of 37%.

CHWY (Chewy) is also drawing fresh bearish attention. News flow flagged mounting short positions, while the options sentiment score there has flipped negative over the week. SCHW (Charles Schwab) faces analyst target cuts. UPS saw its target trimmed too, and its options tone has turned cautious ahead of its print.

On the index side, the Russell 2000 December review rank date falls on 30 October. TOP Financial Group sits 93% above the entry line, with $209 million of forced buying expected if confirmed. That potential passive flow could attract near-term call activity in small-cap names near the threshold.

The NVDA RSI at 40.9 and AMD at 39.8 suggest options players are positioned for a further leg lower even as bulls push back. The divergence between record chip export data from Taiwan and heavy put-side positioning in US names is the sharpest signal in the market right now.