# Bearish Options Activity Builds Across Semiconductor Stocks and Funds

By Enna Lee

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/investing/29208
Published: 2026-10-09T18:54:33.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-09T18:54:33.000Z
Section: Investing

> More than 180,000 puts traded in the VanEck Semiconductor ETF by midday Friday, with $46 million in put premium versus $26 million for calls.

Heavy put activity across semiconductor funds, Nvidia and Micron signaled increased bearish positioning Friday as options volume and premiums concentrated on downside trades in the sector.

More than 180,000 puts traded in the VanEck Semiconductor ETF by midday, compared with 50,000 calls. Put premiums totaled $46 million, while call premiums reached $26 million. About 129,000 put contracts appeared to have been bought.

The ETF's put-to-call open-interest ratio climbed to 1.95, the highest level since the second week of August. The comparable ratio for the Invesco QQQ Trust rose to 1.51.

Nvidia also saw a large options transaction shortly after the opening bell. A trader bought 100,000 puts with a $180 strike expiring Jan. 15 for $21 million. If the position is speculative, Nvidia shares would need to fall 22% by expiration for the trade to reach its strike price.

Micron drew significant activity as well. Call volume was 40% above average, but about $270 million in premium was tied to likely put buying.

Much of that activity involved deep in-the-money puts expiring in June 2028. About 125 puts with strikes ranging from $2,250 to $2,500 traded closer to the asking price, suggesting they were bought. About 50 trades at the $2,050 strike were likely sold.

With Micron shares trading around $1,030, the transactions represented a net $14.5 million bearish spread position with an options delta near minus 1. That structure can function similarly to a synthetic short position.

Deep in-the-money puts can provide a defined-risk alternative to shorting shares when stock-borrowing costs are high. For a purchased option, the most a buyer can lose is the amount invested.

Bid-ask spreads can be difficult to interpret in far-out-of-the-money trades with low open interest and volume. “Spreads have difficulty being categorized by midpoint analysis as well, because dealers are willing to take a haircut on one leg while getting a better premium with the other,” said Jason DeLorenzo, owner and founder of Volland, an options market-structure analytics platform.