US stocks tumbled on Thursday (Oct 22) and the ​Nasdaq posted its steepest daily drop since early June as a batch of high-profile earnings reports ignited fresh fears about the AI spending race.

The ‌S&P 500 ended deep in negative territory. But the tech-laden Nasdaq, dragged down by microchips, suffered a steeper loss, falling 2.6% in the wake of a spate of high-profile AI-related earnings results.

Top 10 Option Volumes

Top 10: NVIDIA, Tesla Motors, SpaceX, Apple, Meta Platforms, Micron Technology, Intel, CoreWeave, Amazon.com, Advanced Micro Devices

Source: Tiger Trade App

Apple closed at $348.22, up 1.23%.Options activity showed a decisive lean toward long-term bullish positioning, anchored by a $4.09 million synthetic call structure. A separate $2.13 million put purchase added a defensive layer, but did not offset the dominant upside conviction. Elevated implied volatility and a call/put ratio just above parity reflect an options market that is pricing in meaningful potential movement while skewing slightly toward calls.

Large Trades

A synthetic call position with a $4.09 million net debit was the largest featured trade, built by buying 1,500 AAPL January 21, 2028 $380.00 calls and selling 1,500 January 21, 2028 $250.00 puts. Both legs were out of the money versus the $348.22 reference stock price, and the structure expresses a clearly bullish long-dated directional view with equity-like upside exposure. The buyer is effectively positioning for sustained appreciation over time while using the short put leg to reduce upfront call cost, suggesting confidence that Apple will remain well above the lower strike through expiration.

A put buy worth $2.13 million was the other displayed large trade, consisting of 2,960 AAPL February 19, 2027 $310.00 puts purchased outright. With the strike below the current stock price, the option was out of the money at execution, making this a bearish or protective downside position aimed at guarding against a meaningful medium-term pullback below $310.00. The trade reflects a targeted hedge or a speculative bet on weakness, but its standalone bearish message was smaller than the conviction embedded in the long-dated synthetic bullish structure.

Overall, the bulk-order flow points to a bullish directional bias in Apple, with sentiment supported by the dominance of upside-oriented premium and by the presence of a sizable synthetic long that signals willingness to own upside exposure over a multi-year horizon, even as some downside protection remains in the tape.

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Unusual Options Activity

Micron closed at $856.49, down 6.26%. Large options activity was dominated by a bullish double-call combination carrying a $27.05 million net debit, alongside a $3.80 million single-leg long call. Both structures used out-of-the-money strikes expiring in January 2027, reflecting institutional appetite for long-dated upside exposure despite the day’s sharp pullback.

Options Indicators

Micron’s implied volatility stands at 61.71%, and with an IV percentile of 13.55%, current option volatility is sitting on the low side relative to its own historical range, which suggests options are cheaply priced rather than expensive. The IV/HV ratio of 1.39 shows implied volatility is still running above realized volatility, indicating the market is embedding a moderate premium for forward uncertainty, but overall the percentile backdrop points to a relatively inexpensive options environment.

The Call/Put volume ratio is 1.48.

Large Trades

A call-buying combination with a $27.05 million net debit was the dominant large trade, consisting of long 1030.0 calls and long 1070.0 calls, both expiring on 2027-01-15. With Micron’s reference price at 856.49, both strikes were out of the money, so this same-direction double-call structure represents an aggressive directional upside bet that also requires a sizable move higher to realize maximum leverage. Because the trade was executed as a buy-buy call combination rather than a premium-selling structure, it points to a trader willing to pay substantial premium for convex upside exposure and for the possibility of a large bullish move over a long-dated horizon.

A single-leg call purchase worth $3.80 million targeted the 1150.0 strike expiring on 2027-01-15. That strike was also out of the money versus the 856.49 reference share price, making this a high-strike upside expression that is clearly bullish but also more speculative in nature, as it depends on a significant rally over time.

Overall, the large-trade flow skews decisively bullish: the biggest orders were concentrated in long calls and net-premium-paid upside structures, while the limited bearish or neutral activity was comparatively small and more consistent with income collection than strong downside conviction. The takeaway is that institutional-sized positioning is favoring further upside in Micron, with traders showing willingness to spend premium on long-dated, out-of-the-money call exposure in anticipation of a meaningful advance.