Market Overview

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 fell on Wednesday(Aug 20) as investors sold tech stocks and moved into less highly valued sectors, as they also awaited remarks from Federal Reserve officials at their Jackson Hole symposium this week.

Regarding the options market, a total volume of 56,062,247 contracts was traded, up 12% from the previous trading day.

Top 10 Option Volumes

Source: Tiger Trade App

Nvidia was down 0.1%, falling along with the broader tech sector, ahead of earnings next week from the leading maker of AI chips. Nvidia shares were headed for their first two-week losing streak since April.

There are 3.32M Nvidia option contracts traded on Wednesday, up 28% from the pvious trading day. Call options account for 64% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $175 strike Call option expiring August 22, with 220,826 contracts trading. $NVDA 20250822 175.0 CALL$

Unusual Options Activity

Source: Market Chameleon

Target posted stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings but the stock declined 6.4% after the retailer announced that company veteran and current Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke will succeed CEO Brian Cornell on Feb. 1. The news disappointed investors who were hoping for an external hire to bring in a fresh perspective.

There are 332,488 Target option contracts traded on Wednesday, up 88% from the pvious trading day. Put options account for 51% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $95 strike Put option expiring August 22, with 36,133 contracts trading. $TGT 20250822 95.0 PUT$

TOP 10 S&P 500 Bullish & Bearish

This report shows stocks with the highest volume of bullish and bearish activity by option delta volume, which converts option volume to an equivalent stock volume (bought or sold).

If we take the total positive option delta volume and subtract the total negative option delta volume, we will get the net imbalance. If the net imbalance is positive, there is more bullish pressure. If the net is negative, there is more bearish pressure.

Based on option delta volume, traders bought a net equivalent of 570,591 shares of NVIDIA stock. The largest bullish delta came from buying calls. The largest delta volume came from the 22-Aug-25 175 Put, with traders getting long 201,999 deltas on the single option contract.

Top 10 bullish stocks: NVDA, CVS, SCHW, META, HPE, APA, MSFT, PSKY, KVUE, KMX

Top 10 bearish stocks: INTC, AAPL, NEE, TSLA, PLTR, AMZN, UBER, UNH, TTD, GOOGL

Source: Market Chameleon

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