NVIDIA closed at 229.28 USD with a 0.52% decline.

Large options trades on NVIDIA showed a bearish tilt, headlined by a $21.00 million long-dated put purchase and a bear call spread with a net credit of $838,000. Both block trades signal institutional caution or outright downside positioning despite the stock’s relatively cheap volatility backdrop. The flow suggests skepticism about sustained upside from current levels and a willingness to pay meaningful premium for long-term drawdown protection.

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Options Indicators

NVIDIA’s implied volatility is 39.16%, and with an IV percentile of 21.91%, current option volatility sits on the lower side of its recent range, indicating that options are cheaply priced rather than expensive. The IV/HV ratio of 1.56 also suggests the market is assigning a meaningful premium to future realized movement versus historical volatility, but overall the current volatility backdrop still falls into the relatively inexpensive category for option pricing. The Call/Put volume ratio is 1.32.

Large Trades

A put buy worth $21.00 million was the standout large trade, with 100,000 contracts purchased at the $180.00 strike expiring on 2027-01-15. With NVDA referenced at $229.28, this put is out of the money, making it a relatively low-delta but very large downside hedge or bearish directional position. The sheer size and long-dated tenor suggest the trader was willing to pay substantial premium for protection against a meaningful drawdown over time, which is clearly a bearish signal.

A bear call spread with a net credit of $838,000 was the other highlighted block, built by selling 5,860 contracts of the $232.50 call and buying 5,860 contracts of the $237.50 call, both expiring on 2026-10-16. Since both legs are out of the money relative to the $229.28 spot reference, the structure reflects a capped bearish view that NVDA is unlikely to rally much beyond the low-$230s into expiration. As a call spread established for net credit, the strategy points to premium collection combined with a moderately bearish directional stance, while the long $237.50 call limits upside risk.

Overall, the large-trade flow leans bearish on NVDA. The tone is shaped by the dominance of downside-oriented positioning, especially the very large long-dated put purchase and the repeated use of bearish call structures that suggest traders are either hedging against weakness or expressing skepticism about sustained upside from current levels. While there are some bullish trades in the broader flow, the balance of premium deployment and the nature of the highlighted block activity indicate cautious-to-negative institutional sentiment.

Strategy Reference

For a sell-side approach with low assignment probability, a trader could consider selling the $180.00 put expiring 2027-01-15 to collect premium while aligning with the lower edge of the large-trade positioning, or use a bear put spread such as buying the $220.00 put and selling the $200.00 put to reduce upfront cost and margin versus a naked put sale.