Apple closed at 333.02 USD, up 1.10%.
Options flow was dominated by two large out-of-the-money put sales at the 320 strike, totaling over $11.17 million in premium collected. The largest trade was an $8.23 million put sale expiring in December 2027, while a second $2.94 million put sale targeted March 2027. Both trades were executed below the current stock price, reflecting a bullish premium-collecting strategy rather than outright bearish positioning. The sellers appear comfortable with Apple holding above 320 through expiration and are willing to buy shares at that lower effective level if assigned.
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Options Indicators
Apple’s implied volatility is 26.72%, with an IV percentile of 41.43% and an IV/HV ratio of 1.19. Taken together, this points to a fairly neutral volatility backdrop: options are not especially cheap, but they are not richly priced either. The current IV sits modestly above historical volatility, suggesting the market is assigning a somewhat higher premium to upcoming price movement than what has been realized recently, though not to an extreme degree. The Call/Put volume ratio is 1.72, indicating stronger overall interest in calls than puts across the broader session.
Large Trades
A put sale worth $8.23 million was the largest large trade of the session, with 3,200 contracts sold at the 320.0 strike expiring on 2027-12-17. With Apple referenced at 333.02, this put was out of the money at the time of the trade, making it a moderately bullish position. The seller is effectively expressing confidence that the stock can stay above 320.0 through expiration, or at least that downside risk will remain contained enough for the premium to decay favorably. Strategically, this kind of out-of-the-money put sale typically reflects income generation with a bullish bias, while also signaling willingness to accumulate shares at a lower effective entry level if assigned.
Another out-of-the-money put sale, worth $2.94 million, targeted the 320.0 strike expiring on 2027-03-19 across 2,000 contracts. Like the larger trade, this was placed below the current stock reference price of 333.02, so it also represents a bullish-to-neutral income strategy rather than an outright bearish wager. The positioning suggests the trader sees 320.0 as a defendable support area over the medium term and is comfortable collecting premium while betting that Apple will remain above that level. Overall, the large-trade flow is clearly bullish: all notable block activity was concentrated in put selling below the market, indicating confidence in price stability, limited near-to-medium-term downside, and a constructive outlook for Apple rather than demand for protective bearish exposure.
Strategy Reference
For traders seeking a lower assignment probability, selling the 300.0 strike put expiring in June 2025 would likely capture meaningful premium while keeping the short put roughly 10% below the current price. Alternatively, those wary of posting large margin for naked puts could deploy a bull put spread by selling the 320.0 strike and buying the 300.0 strike within the same expiration, reducing capital requirements while still benefiting from the bullish stability signaled by the session’s large-trade flow.
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