Semiconductor stocks dominate options flow this week. Bullish and bearish bets are piling into the same names simultaneously — a sign of elevated uncertainty in a sector up sharply in 2026.
NVDA and AMD top the leaderboard for both positive and negative options bets over the past seven days. NVDA is up 21% year-to-date. AMD has surged 108%. Options traders are actively hedging those gains. Both stocks carry active expiries running weekly through late August, suggesting sustained interest rather than one-off speculative trades.
MU (Micron) stands out with the heaviest negative options flow by volume. The stock is up 172% year-to-date. Put buying at stretched valuations is a classic signal of profit protection. INTC — up an eye-catching 226% on the year — appears near the top of both bull and bear lists. That split positioning screams indecision ahead of its next earnings print.
TSLA also features prominently on both sides. Its $1.67 trillion market cap and near-flat year-to-date performance (-1%) make it fertile ground for directional bets. Near-term expiries cluster at May 18 and 22, pointing to short-dated speculation around price catalysts.
On the bullish sentiment side, options scores hit 100% positive for several large-caps including PLD (Prologis) and SO (Southern Company). Defensive and real estate names attracting pure call flow suggests some rotation out of high-beta tech risk.
The overall picture: traders are not abandoning chips — they're strapping on seatbelts.
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.
