Puts Spike as Earnings Season Heats Up

Options traders are loading up on downside protection across a cluster of consumer-facing names this week. The activity is concentrated around near-term expiries, with Friday's 7 November contracts seeing the heaviest flow.

Wayfair grabbed attention after a sharp spike in put buying following its latest results. Gordon Haskett upgraded the stock to Buy with a $160 target, implying 43.7% upside from its $111.32 close. Yet the put flow suggests not everyone agrees. The mismatch between the analyst upgrade and the bearish options positioning makes this one to watch.

Airbnb is priced for a large move. Options pricing implies a swing of roughly $6.69 billion in market cap around its upcoming earnings. The November 6 expiry chain shows meaningful open interest at strikes well below the current price. Put buyers are active at the $110 and $115 strikes for that expiry.

Semiconductors dominate the bullish side of the ledger. Micron Technology and NVIDIA lead the market in positive options bets over the past seven days. Advanced Micro Devices also shows heavy call-side activity. RSI readings across all three names are depressed, with NVDA at 33 and AMD at 35, suggesting traders are positioning for a bounce.

IonQ appears in the earnings-related options cluster alongside DraftKings, Cloudflare, and BILL Holdings. All four have active November 6 and November 13 expiries, pointing to concentrated event-driven positioning.

Unusual Machines sits at 100% short utilisation with availability at just 1.6% of short interest. The stock is down 35% in one month. That combination of extreme short pressure and thin borrow creates conditions where any positive catalyst could trigger sharp upside options moves.