Market Overview

As U.S. President Trump confirmed last night that he will impose a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada starting from Tuesday, coupled with the bleak performance of the U.S. manufacturing PMI data released on the same day, U.S. stock indices experienced a significant decline overnight. 

The volatility index of U.S. stocks, also known as the “fear index” CBOE Volatility Index(VIX.US), soared at one point above 24, marking its highest closing level since the day after the Federal Reserve’s meeting in December last year. Recently, there has been active trading of CBOE Volatility Index(VIX.US) options, with about 858,800 puts and approximately 376,000 calls being traded, resulting in a put/call volume ratio of about 0.44. This indicates a stronger inclination among investors to bet on a bullish index. Data from Cboe Global Markets shows that in recent days, some of the most actively traded VIX option contracts have been bullish options linked to the index reaching 30 and 33 points.

Specifically, the options expiring on March 18th were exceptionally active with 657,700 contracts traded. The VIX_250318_C_30.00 option traded 380,800 contracts, with a surge of more than 50.85%.

Top 10 Options Trading Volume:

NVIDIA Corporation(NVDA.US): Experienced an overnight decline of 8.69%. The total volume of options traded on that day reached 4.84 million contracts, which was a decrease of 2.0329 million contracts from the previous day, a drop of 0.3 times compared to the previous day. Call options accounted for nearly 60% of the volume. Open interest was at 22.14 million contracts. 

Sources report that NVIDIA’s orders for CoWoS advanced packaging at its semiconductor foundry were allegedly cut, and the preliminary discussions for outsourcing the CoW (Chip on Wafer) front-end packaging process ultimately did not reach a consensus. Analysts point out that as the lifecycle of NVIDIA’s previous-generation Hooper GPU comes to an end, the total volume of orders may gradually decrease.

Tesla Motors, Inc.(TSLA.US): The stock fell 2.84% overnight. The total volume of options traded on that day was 2.31 million contracts, which was a decrease of 1.4939 million contracts from the previous day, a 0.39 times decrease compared to the previous day. Open interest was at 7.38 million contracts. 

Palantir Technologies(PLTR.US): The stock fell 1.77% overnight. The total volume of options traded on that day was 790,000 contracts, which was a decrease of 465,700 contracts from the previous day, a 0.37 times decrease compared to the previous day. Open interest was at 3.32 million contracts. 

Intel Corporation(INTC.US): The stock fell 4.17% overnight. The total volume of options traded on that day reached 770,000 contracts, an increase of 206,800 contracts from the previous day, a volume rise of 0.37 times compared to the previous day. Open interest was at 5.62 million contracts. 

The company announced that the operation date of its $28 billion chip factory in Ohio will be further delayed until 2030-2031, five years later than initially planned. This marks the second delay of the project within nearly a year and reflects Intel’s challenges with business demand and market uncertainties. Moreover, Intel’s performance has been declining in recent years, and it faces multiple difficulties, including not keeping up with the AI trend, significant drops in stock price, layoffs, etc., which may cause investor concerns about the company’s prospects.

Apple Inc.(AAPL.US): The stock fell 1.58% overnight. The total volume of options traded on that day was 680,000 contracts, a decrease of 316,900 contracts from the previous day, a 0.32 times decrease compared to the previous day. Open interest was at 4.4 million contracts. 

MicroStrategy Incorporated Class A(MSTR.US): The stock fell 1.77% overnight. The total volume of options traded on that day was 660,000 contracts, a decrease of 234,400 contracts from the previous day, a 0.26 times decrease compared to the previous day. Open interest was at 1.97 million contracts. 

The price of Bitcoin fluctuated and the overall cryptocurrency market is trending downwards. Reports indicate that the price of Bitcoin once fell below $80,000, and although it has rebounded since, it remains in a downward trend. As the largest Bitcoin treasury company in the world, MicroStrategy’s stock price is highly correlated with the price of Bitcoin. Over the past month, MicroStrategy’s stock price has fallen by 26.9%, which is consistent with the substantial decrease in the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

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

Options Activity Tracking:

Lemonade(LMND.US): Fell 1.65% overnight, with the LMND_250417_C_50.0 call option, which has a strike price at $50.00 and expires on April 17, 2025, trading 26,200 contracts. This option increased by 6.06%.

ZoomInfo Technologies(ZI.US): Fell 1.03% overnight, with the ZI_250516_P_10.0 put option, which has a strike price at $10.00 and expires on May 16, 2025, trading 11,600 contracts.

Iris Energy Limited(IREN.US): Fell 8.13% overnight, with the IREN_250307_P_7.0 put option, which has a strike price at $7.00 and expires on March 7, 2025, trading 9,200 contracts. This option increased by 66.67%.

Cardinal Health, Inc.(CAH.US): Fell 0.23% overnight, with the CAH_250307_P_128.0 put option, which has a strike price at $128.00 and expires on March 7, 2025, trading 9,500 contracts. This option increased by 86.67%.

TILRAY, INC.(TLRY.US): Fell 7.02% overnight, with the TLRY_250307_C_0.5 call option, which has a strike price at $0.50 and expires on March 7, 2025, trading 5,800 contracts. This option decreased by 17.39%.

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:

The U.S. stock with the quantum computing theme, Rigetti Computing Inc Ordinary Shares(RGTI.US), experienced a sharp decline of nearly 9% overnight, with an implied volatility of 143.14%.

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