NVIDIA closed at USD 212.50, up 0.33%. Large options trades were decisively bearish, highlighted by a multi-million dollar synthetic short position and a substantial long put purchase, both targeting weakness over a long-term horizon.
>>>Click to claim your commission-free cards before trading!
Options Indicators
NVDA’s implied volatility is 40.59%, and with an IV percentile of 29.08%, current option pricing sits on the cheaper side of its historical range, indicating volatility expectations are relatively subdued rather than elevated. The IV/HV ratio of 1.06 suggests implied volatility is only modestly above realized volatility, so options appear fairly close to recent actual movement with a slight premium built in, overall pointing to a relatively inexpensive volatility backdrop.
The Call/Put volume ratio is 1.84.
Large Trades
A synthetic short position worth $15.38 million was the largest displayed trade, built by selling 5,250 in-the-money 180.0 calls and buying 5,250 out-of-the-money 180.0 puts, both expiring on 2026-07-24. This sell call plus buy put structure represents a classic bearish combination that creates downside exposure similar to short stock. It was executed for a net credit overall, with $15.26 million taken in from the call sale against $0.13 million spent on the put purchase, pointing to a strongly directional bearish stance rather than simple hedging. With the stock reference price at $212.50, the short in-the-money call also reinforces the view that the trader is positioning for weakness or at least for the shares to remain under pressure over a long-dated horizon.
A PUT buy worth $2.76 million was the second highlighted trade, consisting of the purchase of 1,800 contracts of the 185.0 put expiring on 2027-03-19. This was a single-leg bearish trade placed at an out-of-the-money strike relative to the $212.50 reference stock price, showing a downside bet with a longer-term time frame. Because it is a straight put purchase, the intent appears to be either outright bearish speculation or portfolio protection against a meaningful decline, and the size suggests conviction in downside risk extending well beyond the near term.
Overall, large-trade sentiment in NVDA was clearly bearish, with total bullish flow of $3.51 million versus total bearish flow of $22.68 million, leaving a net bearish difference of $19.17 million. The directional judgment is decisively negative, as the order flow was dominated by downside positioning led by the very large synthetic short and reinforced by sizeable long-put activity in longer-dated expirations. That pattern suggests institutional traders were prioritizing protection or expressing a strong bearish directional view, while the comparatively small bullish trades were not large enough to offset the concentration of capital committed to downside structures.
Strategy Reference
Given the heavy bearish institutional flow, a trader looking to sell premium with low assignment probability might consider a far out-of-the-money short put, such as the 140 strike; for those preferring defined risk, a bear put spread using near-dated expirations can express a downside view without posting significant margin.
Comments