The S&P 500 ended little changed on Wednesday (Feb 26) ahead of quarterly results from Nvidia, whose positive outlook could set the tone for the artificial intelligence sector.

Regarding the options market, a total volume of 50,337,666 contracts was traded on Wednesday.

Top 10 Option Volumes

Top 10: NVDA; TSLA; SMCI; AAPL; PLTR; AMZN; MSTR; LCID; META; NIO

Source: Tiger Trade App

Nvidia stock jumped 3.7% on Wednesday and continued to rise slightly in premarket trading on Thursday.

Nvidia delivered good-but-not-great quarterly numbers on Wednesday, drawing a muted response from investors accustomed to blowout results.

Sales will be about $43 billion in the fiscal first quarter, which runs through April, Nvidia said in a statement. Analysts had estimated $42.3 billion on average, with some projections ranging as high as $48 billion.

The company also warned that gross profit margins would be tighter than anticipated as it rushes to roll out a new chip design called Blackwell. And there’s the risk of US tariffs weighing on results.

A total number of 3.86 million options related to Nvidia was traded on Wednesday, of which 61% were call options. A particularly high trading volume was seen for the $140 strike call option expiring this Friday, with a total number of 128,577 option contracts traded as of Wednesday.

Market sentiment for Nvidia is quite bullish based on option delta volume, traders bought a net equivalent of 4,721,080 shares of stock.

Source: Market Chameleon

The largest bullish delta came from buying calls.

Source: Market Chameleon

Unusual Options Activity

Source: Market Chameleon

AppLovin Corporation saw one of 2024's most dramatic rallies, but the stock fell 12% Wednesday following critical reports from short sellers.

Culper Research said Tuesday that it's taken out a short position in AppLovin's stock - a bet that prices will fall - owing to a pair of concerns regarding the app-monetization company's business.

The report questioned whether AppLovin is as valuable as it says it is to the advertisers participating in its e-commerce program and alleged that AppLovin uses "gimmicks" to "force-feed silent, backdoor app installations directly onto users' phones."

Fuzzy Panda Research also said it was short the stock, saying it was informed by "experts" that the bull case on the e-commerce business relies on copying Meta Platforms Inc.'s data.

A total number of 259,482 options related to AppLovin was traded on Wednesday, 5.6 times higher than the 90-day average trading volume. A particularly high trading volume was seen for the $300 strike put option expiring this Friday, with a total number of 9,898 option contracts traded as of Wednesday.

$APP 20250228 300.0 PUT$

Source: Market Chameleon

TOP Bullish & Bearish Single Stocks

This report shows stocks with the highest volume of bullish and bearish activity by option delta volume, which converts option volume to an equivalent stock volume (bought or sold).

If we take the total positive option delta volume and subtract the total negative option delta volume, we will get the net imbalance. If the net imbalance is positive, there is more bullish pressure. If the net is negative, there is more bearish pressure.

Top 10 bullish stocks: NVDA; KVUE; F; GM; C; WBA; META; BAC; FSLR; PLTR

Top 10 bearish stocks: AMZN; TSLA; AAPL; PYPL; CMG; GOOG; CEG; AVGO; MSFT; OXY

Source: Market Chameleon

Based on option delta volume, traders sold a net equivalent of -1,142,314 shares of Tesla stock. The largest bearish delta came from buying puts.

Source: Market Chameleon