Intel Corporation closed at 104.47 USD, up 9.05%.

Despite the strong daily gain, the largest options prints in INTC pointed in the opposite direction. A $4.19 million short strangle centered at the $115.00 strike and a $5.42 million sale of $150.00 calls dominated the tape, suggesting institutions used the rally to harvest premium rather than chase upside. The flow leaned heavily bearish, with call overwriting and bear call spreads outpacing bullish activity among big blocks.

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Options Indicators

INTC’s implied volatility is 69.44%, and with an IV percentile of 50.60%, current volatility sits in a neutral historical range rather than at an extreme. In other words, although the absolute IV level is fairly high, relative to its own past distribution the options are not especially cheap or especially expensive; combined with an IV/HV ratio of 1.52, the market is pricing implied volatility at a noticeable premium to realized volatility, suggesting option premiums carry a meaningful forward-volatility cushion.

The Call/Put volume ratio is 2.16.

Large Trades

A $4.19 million short strangle was one of the largest displayed trades, built by selling the January 15, 2027 $115.00 put and selling the January 15, 2027 $115.00 call for a net credit of $4.19 million. With INTC referenced at $104.47, the short put was in the money while the short call was out of the money, making this a premium-collection volatility trade centered around the $115.00 strike. Strategically, the seller appears to be expressing a view that the stock will gravitate toward or remain below that level over time, while monetizing elevated option premium rather than positioning for a sharp upside breakout. A $5.42 million single-leg call sale was the largest outright leg among the displayed trades, with 4,000 contracts of the June 17, 2027 $150.00 call sold. That strike sat well out of the money versus the $104.47 reference price, so this was a bearish-to-neutral income trade that caps upside participation far above spot and signals limited conviction in a rally to $150.00 by expiration.

Overall, the large-trade flow in INTC was clearly bearish. The tape was dominated by call overwriting, repeated bear call spreads, and other premium-selling structures that consistently leaned against upside, while bullish activity existed but was smaller and less influential in the aggregate. Taken together, the bulk orders suggest institutions were more focused on harvesting premium and fading rally potential than on accumulating upside exposure, pointing to cautious sentiment and a market view that INTC’s upside is likely constrained.

Strategy Reference

For a low assignment probability on the call side, selling a June 2027 $150.00 call remains a straightforward income overlay, while traders seeking defined risk without posting the full margin of a short strangle could use a $115/$150 bear call spread to lean against the same capped-upside thesis.