Options flow turned decidedly bullish heading into May. The ORTEX options score screener shows Amgen leading the week on raw options sentiment, with the biotech giant's nearest cluster of expiries heavily populated through June — traders are clearly positioning for a catalyst.
Sandisk stands out as the most unusual story. Up 362% year-to-date, the storage spinout now carries both the highest positive and negative options bets over the past seven days. That split activity — large call buying alongside notable put accumulation — signals deep disagreement over whether this rally has legs. With a July expiry drawing significant open interest, the market is pricing for a resolution within 90 days.
Intel also flags as a name to watch. Up 157% year-to-date and showing RSI of 85.8, its options chain now runs out to mid-July. Put buyers are active here. An analyst currently holds a target implying 18% downside — one of the sharpest bearish views on any large-cap this week.
Bullish flow is stacking up in Devon Energy options as well. Up 39% YTD with analysts seeing 15% more upside, call activity is concentrated in the May-to-June window ahead of Q1 earnings.
On the macro side, Japan yen intervention headlines and UAE's exit from OPEC are creating cross-asset noise. Traders appear to be using near-dated options — expiries clustered around May 8 and May 15 — to hedge over the weekend.
The broad options environment remains skewed bullish, but with earnings season in full swing, event-driven volatility is the real story this week.
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.
