Market Overview
Wall Street's main indexes closed lower on Tuesday (May 19) with the Nasdaq leading declines, after the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed to its highest level in more than a year on mounting inflation concerns as oil prices stayed elevated and investors were anxious about the lack of a peace agreement between the U.S. and Iran.
Regarding the options market, a total volume of 54,039,280 contracts was traded, down 13% from the previous trading day.
Top 10 Option Volumes
Top 10: TSLA, NVDA, AMZN, AAPL, MU, MSTR, COIN, GME, BABA, Tiger Brokers
Source: Tiger Trade App
Micron Technology Shares advanced 2.5% to $698.74 on Tuesday, defying a broader slump weighing on all three of the major U.S. stock indexes. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 0.7%. Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh boosted his target price on Micron to $800 from $740 and reiterated an Outperform rating. In his view, higher prices for Micron’s NAND and DRAM memory chips should continue at least through 2027.
There are 631.76K Micron Technology option contracts traded on Tuesday, down 4% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 61% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $800 strike call option expiring May 22, with 25,160 contracts trading. MU 20260522 800.0 CALL
After outperforming earlier in the session, the S&P 500 software index reversed course to lose ground and close down 1.2%. Afternoon trading in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was choppy but it ended close to flat with a 0.03% gain after falling more than 3% earlier in the day.
Shares of NVIDIA dropped 1% on Tuesday. Investors are waiting anxiously for AI chip leader Nvidia to report quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday. The performance of the world's most valuable company will be closely watched for evidence that AI-driven demand is strong enough to justify elevated valuations across semiconductors. Rosenblatt's James said investors were already preparing on Tuesday for Nvidia's report, as it often moves the entire market along with the semiconductor sector.
There are 1.67M Nvidia option contracts traded on Tuesday, down 58% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 67% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $225 strike call option expiring May 22, with 63,108 contracts trading. NVDA 20260518 225.0 CALL
Unusual Options Activity
Source: Market Chameleon
Shares of ServiceNow edged down 1.5% on Tuesday. The stock made a 9% jump in the previous session after Bank of America reinstated coverage of the software company with a Buy rating and a $130 price target. ServiceNow has been among those most impacted by the protracted software selloff earlier this year, stemming from fears artificial intelligence would disrupt software-as-a-service business models.
There are 436,103 ServiceNow option contracts traded on Tuesday, up 3% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 80% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $110 strike call option expiring May 22, with 38,647 contracts trading. NOW 20260522 110.0 CALL
POET Technologies Inc fell 8% on Tuesday after surging in the prior session on news of a supply agreement with Lumilens. The deal includes a $50 million initial purchase order for EOI-based optical engines, plus a framework that could scale to $500 million over five years.
There are 637,804 POET Technologies option contracts traded on Tuesday, up 163% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 86% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $17 strike call option expiring july 17, with 130,806 contracts trading. POET 20260717 17.0 CALL
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