Palantir Technologies Inc. closed at $175.23, up 1.87%.

Despite the modest daily gain, the options market painted a complex picture of institutional positioning. A colossal $4.05 million bull put spread signaled one trader’s conviction that the stock will hold firm, while a countervailing $3.21 million bear put spread revealed a deep-pocketed bet on a significant downturn. The resulting net bearish flow of $6.11 million tipped the scales, indicating that the smart money was actively hedging against or speculating on a pullback rather than celebrating the session’s advance.

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Options Indicators

PLTR’s implied volatility stands at 54.81%, while its IV percentile is 27.49%, which places current volatility in the lower end of its recent range and suggests options are relatively cheaply priced rather than expensive. With an IV/HV ratio of 0.51, implied volatility is also running below historical realized volatility, reinforcing the view that current option premiums are not stretched and that the market’s forward volatility pricing appears fairly subdued. The Call/Put volume ratio is 1.48.

Large Trades

A bullish bull put spread with a net credit of $4.05 million was the largest highlighted trade, built by selling the September 4, 2026 $180.00 put and buying the September 4, 2026 $150.00 put, 4,500 contracts each. With PLTR referenced at $175.23, the short $180.00 put was in the money while the long $150.00 put was out of the money. As a bull put spread, this is a premium-collection strategy that expresses a moderately bullish view: the trader collects upfront income and is positioning for PLTR to hold up above the spread area over time, while using the lower-strike long put to cap downside risk.

A bearish bear put spread with a net debit of $3.21 million was the second highlighted trade, created by buying the March 19, 2027 $175.00 put and selling the March 19, 2027 $120.00 put, 1,500 contracts each. Both strikes were out of the money versus the $175.23 spot reference, though the long $175.00 put sat very near the current share price. This structure is a directional bearish bet financed in part by the short lower-strike put: the trader paid premium upfront for downside exposure, targeting a meaningful decline in PLTR while limiting the maximum payout to the width of the spread less the initial net debit. Overall, large-trade sentiment leaned bearish, with total bullish flow of $10.39 million versus total bearish flow of $16.50 million, leaving a net bearish imbalance of $6.11 million. The conclusion is a clear bearish bias, as downside-focused put buying and bearish put structures outweighed the bullish premium-selling and call-spread activity, suggesting institutional participants were more focused on protecting against or positioning for weakness than chasing further upside.

Strategy Reference

For a low-assignment probability cash-secured put, sellers could consider the October 2025 $100.00 strike, which sits far out of the money and offers a premium to capitalize on the currently subdued IV environment.