Top 10 Options Trading Volume:

NVIDIA Corporation(NVDA.US): Overnight drop of 3.09%, with a total options volume of 2.46 million contracts for the day, a decrease of 2.3472 million contracts from the previous day, down by 0.49 times compared to the previous day. Open interest stands at 21.28 million contracts. 

NVIDIA is set to release its earnings report this Wednesday. Wedbush continues to be optimistic about NVIDIA and expects the company’s fourth-quarter results to “significantly exceed expectations and achieve growth.” There are reports of strong demand for NVIDIA’s latest Blackwell architecture GPU products.

Tesla Motors, Inc.(TSLA.US): Overnight drop of 2.15%, with a total options volume of 1.71 million contracts for the day, a decrease of 1.411 million contracts from the previous day, down by 0.45 times compared to the previous day. Open interest stands at 6.56 million contracts. 

Tesla’s major shareholder, Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, recently predicted that Tesla’s stock price will plummet by 50% by 2025. His bearish reasons include: Tesla’s Autopilot technology facing obstacles, Musk’s distracted focus, slowing sales growth, and the risk of high valuation.

Palantir Technologies(PLTR.US): Overnight drop of 10.53%, with a total options volume of 1.7 million contracts for the day, a decrease of 180.7 thousand contracts from the previous day, down by 0.1 times compared to the previous day. Open interest stands at 3.25 million contracts. 

The U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin plans to reduce the U.S. military spending budget by 8% over the next five years, which may jeopardize one of Palantir’s major sources of revenue.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Sponsored ADR(BABA.US): Overnight drop of 10.23%, with a total options volume of 720 thousand contracts for the day, a decrease of 366.6 thousand contracts from the previous day, down by 0.34 times compared to the previous day. Open interest stands at 2.46 million contracts. 

The company announced on Monday: “Plans to invest at least 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) over the next three years in cloud computing and AI infrastructure, further committing to long-term technological innovation, highlighting the company’s focus on AI-driven growth and its position as a leading global cloud computing provider.”

PUT/CALL: Counts the percentage of open put and call option holdings for the listed stocks during the trading day.

Options Activity Tracking:

Altria Group, Inc.(MO.US) : Overnight increase of 0.36%, where the call option MO_250228_C_57.0 with a strike price at $57.00, expiring on February 28, 2025, traded 81,400 contracts, and this option increased by 50.0%.

NIKE, Inc. Class B(NKE.US): Overnight increase of 4.94%, where the call option NKE_250228_C_85.0 with a strike price at $85.00, expiring on February 28, 2025, traded 36,600 contracts, and this option increased by 466.67%.

Pfizer Inc.(PFE.US): Overnight increase of 1.33%, where the put option PFE_250404_P_24.0 with a strike price at $24.00, expiring on April 4, 2025, traded 30,200 contracts, and this option decreased by 33.33%.

Palantir Technologies(PLTR.US): Overnight decrease of 10.53%, with several call options showing unusual activity:

The call option PLTR_250228_C_93.0 with a strike price at $93.00, expiring on February 28, 2025, traded 26,100 contracts, and this option decreased by 72.67%. The call option PLTR_250228_C_94.0 with a strike price at $94.00, expiring on February 28, 2025, traded 22,500 contracts, and this option decreased by 74.29%.

vol/oi: The ratio of options volume to the number of open positions in the contract, with higher vol/oi indicating that the market is creating an abnormal number of new positions.

Options IV Unusual Movements:

Lunar Corporation(LUNR.US) fell another 6% on Monday, with total options volume for the day reaching 53,000 contracts, and the implied volatility rose to 187%

Read More: A quick look at the pros and cons of index options!

Note: Implied volatility is an estimate of the expected fluctuation of a stock's price and is derived from the price of its options. High and low levels of implied volatility signify market sentiment and option supply and demand dynamics. Feeding into an option's premium, implied volatility, alongside time value and directional movement, embodies the core aspects influencing option pricing. Traders navigate their strategies within this three-dimensional framework.

Volume reflects the aggregate volume of options contracts executed in a single day.

IV Rank gauges the standing of the current implied volatility within the highest and lowest values observed over the past year, serving as a relative measure.

IV Percentile denotes the proportion of days during the past year when the implied volatility was lower than the present rate, providing a statistical norm.

IV Yearly High marks the apex of an option's implied volatility recorded within the preceding year, signaling its peak uncertainty or risk