Put Pressure Hits Chip Names as Options Bulls Eye Financials

Bearish options bets dominated semiconductor stocks this week. Micron Technology led the negative side, topping ORTEX's rankings for negative options bets over the past seven days. The stock is up 244% year-to-date but RSI sits at just 53, suggesting momentum has stalled after a steep run.

Meta Platforms saw 100% negative options flow skew in early data but now prints an RSI of just 30.7. That means the stock is in oversold territory. Options activity there may be shifting. The stock is down 7.2% this year.

Advanced Micro Devices and NVIDIA both carry active near-term expiry chains running through November. AMD's RSI sits at 53 with short interest days-to-cover at 0.46. That is thin cover for a stock with this much options volume.

On the bullish side, financial stocks dominate. Bank of New York Mellon, PNC Financial, and Intercontinental Exchange all printed 100% positive options flow over the past week. Earnings season is drawing call buyers into financials.

One signal worth watching: Southern Company carries options expiries out through January 2027. NRC reactor status data shows Southern's nuclear output fell 10 standard deviations below its own history as of 28 October. That is a severe operational outlier. Options traders with exposure to power generation may want to watch that data point closely.

Verastem, with short interest at 16.2% of free float, has options expiries concentrated in the November-to-January window. Clinical-trial status data flags a scheduling delay. Its trial completion date slipped 2.1 standard deviations below its own history as of 14 October. That kind of slippage in biotech tends to draw put buyers.