Market Overview
Wall Street's main indexes rallied more than 1% on Wednesday (May 20), bouncing back from a three-day selloff with a boost in sentiment from technology and chip stocks, which rose ahead of Nvidia's quarterly results.
Regarding the options market, a total volume of 51,258,045 contracts was traded, down 5% from the previous trading day.
Top 10 Option Volumes
Top 10: TSLA, NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, INTC, AMZN, VIX, META, MU, AMD
Source: Tiger Trade App
NVIDIA shares closed up 1.3% on Wednesday, but after-hours trading was volatile after the company forecast second-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations and announced an $80 billion share buyback program. Before the Nvidia report, the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index had rallied 4.5% with big gainers including Astera Labs, up 17.7%, and ARM Holdings U.S. traded shares, up 15%.
There are 2.94 million Nvidia option contracts traded on Wednesday, up 75% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 69% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $235 strike call option expiring May 22, with 142,957 contracts trading. NVDA 20260522 235.0 CALL
Tesla Motors stocks rose 3.3% on Wednesday, mainly driven by major progress in its Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology and improved analyst sentiment. A key catalyst was Tesla’s official rollout of its supervised FSD package to Lithuania, making it the second EU country to adopt the system. In addition, prominent research firm JR Research upgraded Tesla to a "Buy" rating, further fueling its upward momentum.
There are 3.18 million Tesla option contracts traded on Wednesday, up 24% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 67% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $415 strike put option expiring May 20, with 309,517 contracts trading. TSLA 20260520 415.0 CALL
Unusual Options Activity
Source: Market Chameleon
ARM Holdings surged 15% on Wednesday, extending its winning streak to three consecutive days and hitting a fresh all-time high, as investors continued to take heart from an investment firm’s highly optimistic stance for its stock, saying that profits are expected to rocket fivefold by 2030.
In a market note, Bernstein assigned an outperform rating on shares of Arm Holdings, alongside a price target of $300, or an implied 16.8 percent upside potential from its latest closing price.The coverage was based on the belief that the company stands to largely benefit from the renaissance of CPUs for agentic AI, given the rapid shift from chatbot to AI agents.
There are 188,104 ARM option contracts traded on Wednesday, up 67% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 60% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $260 strike call option expiring May 22, with 8,157 contracts trading. ARM 20260522 260.0 CALL
T1 ENERGY INC soared 26.45% on Wednesday, as investors took heart from an investment firm’s strong optimism for the stock, after getting battered by a short seller, which claimed that it is not eligible for US tax credits. In a market note, Roth Capital recommended investors take the sell-off as a buying opportunity, saying that T1 Energy is a “model for what the Trump administration may want in a domestic manufacturer that is transferring advanced technology and capacity to the US.”
There are 253,773 T1 ENERGY option contracts traded on Wednesday, up 224% from the previous trading day. Call options account for 84% of overall option trades. Particularly high volume was seen for the $10 strike call option expiring May 22, with 17,469 contracts trading. TE 20260522 10.0 CALL
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