Options activity split sharply on April 30 as two big themes dominated flow: a $100B AAPL buyback announcement and surging oil prices driven by Hormuz Strait fears.
Apple calls lit up after hours. The tech giant reported Q2 iPhone sales of $57B. It authorised a $100B share buyback and raised its dividend to $0.27. Bullish options bets flooded in immediately. AAPL's options score sits at 30.6 on the ORTEX short score scale. The May 1 expiry is the most active contract. Traders are betting the post-earnings pop holds.
Energy names saw a full sentiment reversal. Brent crude hit $126 before retreating. DVN — Devon Energy — gained nearly 40% year-to-date and leads the ORTEX options momentum screen for Oil & Gas this week. HAL — Halliburton — is up 48% YTD. Both carry positive options flow. The Williams Companies (WMB) is an outlier. Its options positive % dropped to zero this week despite a 22% YTD gain.
Bearish flow hit insurers. , , and all show 0% positive options flow for the past seven days. Macro uncertainty appears to weigh on the sector.
Rivian watched closely. RIVN announced capacity expansion to 300,000 vehicles at its Georgia plant. Short score remains elevated at 68.6. DTC stands at 5.7 days. Options traders are hedging ahead of Q1 results.
This is not financial advice.
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.
