Top 10 Options Trading Volume:

NVIDIA Corporation(NVDA.US): Last Friday fell by 4.05%, with total options traded reaching 4.8 million contracts, of which over 62% were call options, a volume increase of 1.01 times compared to the previous day. Open interest stands at 25.06 million contracts. 

NVIDIA is set to release its highly anticipated Q4 earnings report this week, with some analysts believing that pessimistic guidance included in the report could burst the artificial intelligence bubble and have a significant potential impact on the Generative AI (GenAI) sector.

Tesla Motors, Inc.(TSLA.US): Last Friday fell by 4.68%, with total options trading volume reaching 3.12 million contracts, an increase of 1.3933 million contracts from the day before, a volume increase of 0.81 times compared to the previous day. Open interest stands at 7.61 million contracts. 

According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) disclosed last Friday, Tesla will recall some 2023 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, totaling 376,241 units. The recalled vehicles’ software version may cause the power steering assistance to fail when the vehicle accelerates again after parking.

Palantir Technologies(PLTR.US): Last Friday fell by 4.63%, with total options traded volume reaching 1.88 million contracts, a decrease of 1.0057 million contracts from the previous day, a volume decrease of 0.35 times compared to the previous day. Open interest stands at 4.13 million contracts. 

In the news, it was reported that the company’s CEO adopted a new stock trading plan, and there were reports that the U.S. Department of Defense has been ordered to prepare for an annual 8% cut in the U.S. defense budget for the next five years. Palantir is best known for its contract business, providing software and technological services to defense agencies.

Super Micro Computer, Inc.(SMCI.US): Last Friday fell by 5.4%, with total options traded volume reaching 1.27 million contracts, a decrease of 0.2339 million contracts from the previous day, a volume decrease of 0.16 times compared to the previous day. Open interest stands at 4.21 million contracts.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Sponsored ADR(BABA.US): Last Friday rose by 5.72%, with total options traded volume reaching 1.09 million contracts, a decrease of 0.3949 million contracts from the day before, a volume decrease of 0.27 times compared to the previous day. Open interest stands at 2.86 million contracts. 

On the Q3 FY2025 earnings call, Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang stated that over the next three years, Alibaba will increase investments in three major AI areas and revealed that they will soon release a deep inference model based on Qwen2.5-Max.

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

Options Activity Tracking:

Bank of America Corporation(BAC.US): Overnight, it fell by 1.08%, with 19,500 contracts traded of the call option BAC_250307_C_45.5, which has a strike price of 45.5 dollars and expires on March 7, 2025. This option fell by 33.33%.

NIKOLA CORPORATION(NKLA.US): Overnight, it fell by 13.66%, with 12,800 contracts traded of the put option NKLA_250321_P_1.5, which has a strike price of 1.5 dollars and expires on March 21, 2025. This option rose by 2.83%.

Verizon Communications Inc.(VZ.US): Overnight, it rose by 0.64%, with 20,700 contracts traded of the call option VZ_250228_C_43.5, which has a strike price of 43.5 dollars and expires on February 28, 2025. This option increased by 112.5%.

DRAFTKINGS INC(DKNG.US): Overnight, it fell by 7.83%, with 11,600 contracts traded of the put option DKNG_250228_P_43.0, which has a strike price of 43.0 dollars and expires on February 28, 2025. This option surged by 540.0%.

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 over 8% last Friday, with total options trading volume reaching 79,000 contracts and the implied volatility rising to 194%.

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