Today's Options Market Update

Wall Street teetered between red and green early today following Monday's rebound, initially pressured by rising crude prices and questions surrounding a U.S.-backed plan to get oil flowing again. President Trump's pleas for assistance to open the critical Strait of Hormuz appeared to fall on mostly deaf ears, though Britain and France are considering it, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Nvidia's (NVDA) GPU Tech Conference (GTC) kicked off late yesterday with a cheerful demand outlook from CEO Jensen Huang, though shares of the AI giant barely budged this morning. The Federal Reserve gathers today for its two-day meeting and is expected to keep rates unchanged Wednesday afternoon while delivering updated economic projections and a new “dot plot” of possible rate paths. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will likely be asked about the war's impact on the economy.

On Monday, major indexes rebounded as crude retreated, with oil and the S&P 500 Index continuing to display a strong inverse correlation. "Time is the enemy here," said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at the Schwab Center for Financial Research (SCFR). "The longer this drags out, the more acute the pain points become."

Source: Schwab Center for Financial Research

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield (TNX) is lower by ~2 basis points to 4.20%.

The U.S. Dollar Index ($DXY) is lower by 0.08 to 99.63.

WTI Crude Oil (/CL) is higher by 1.75% to $95.14/barrel.

Gold prices have traded in a range of $4,994.80-5,049.40 and were last seen trading higher by ~0.30% to $5,017.40/oz.

Natural Gas prices for March futures have traded in a range of $3.006-3.097 today and were last seen trading higher by 1.69% to $3.074.

Bitcoin (BTC) is lower by ~1.46% over the last 24 hours to $73,774.94 today.

Shares of Elbit Systems Ltd. (ESLT + $92.72 to $967.22) are moving higher this morning after the aerospace & defense company reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $3.56 ($0.47 beat) on Q4 revenue that increased 11.39% year-over-year (YoY) to $2.148B (slightly above the $2.10B FactSet consensus estimate). Shares of ESLT hit an all-time high of $971.99 earlier in today’s trading session. Calls are outnumbering puts nearly 3:2 with the April 17^th 1020.00 call being the highest volume contract (volume is 70).

Also trading to the upside this morning is Align Technology Inc. (ALGN + $6.65 to $176.10) after Barclays upgraded the maker of Invisalign dental aligners to “Overweight” from “Equal Weight” and put a $200.00 price target on the stock. Barclays analyst Glen Santangelo said the recent pullback in the stock, driven by the Middle East conflict, has provided an opportunity to get ALGN at an attractive valuation of 10x EBITDA. Calls are slightly outnumbering puts with the March 27^th 182.50 call seeing the most action from traders (volume is 64).

New 52-week highs (62 new highs today): Duke Energy Corp. (DUK + $0.31 to $133.77), Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (PBR + $0.67 to $19.84), Wisconsin Energy Corp. (WEC + $0.14 to $118.04)

Some unusual call activity (~100:1 calls over puts) is being seen in The Chemours Company (CC + $1.33 to $18.97) which is primarily driven by activity on the March 27^th 20.00 call. Volume on this contract is 3,242 versus open interest of 15, so we know that the volume primarily represents fresh positioning. The majority of the transactions consisted of various-sized blocks that were bought at various times for between $0.90-1.05 each, which suggests bullish intent.

Shares of Academy Sports and Outdoors Inc. (ASO - $5.54 to $50.97) are under pressure this morning after the sporting goods and outdoor recreational retailer reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.97 ($0.09 miss) on Q4 revenue that increased 2.4% YoY to $1.72B (below the $1.76B expected). Looking ahead, the company guided FY26 adjusted EPS to come in a range of $6.10-6.60 (vs. the $6.46 consensus estimate) and FY26 net sales to come in a range of $6.175-6.355B (below the $6.468B expected). Puts are outnumbering calls better than 2:1 with the March 20^th 54.00 put seeing the most action from traders (volume is 675).

Also trading to the downside today is Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY - $52.34 to $936.78) after HSBC downgraded the drugmaker to “Reduce” from “Hold” and cut their price target on the stock to $850.00 from $1,070.00. HSBC analyst Rajesh Kumar said that LLY’s obesity drug price cuts are a headwind and believe the company’s guidance suggest that it can continue to “defy gravity with volume growth”. Puts are outnumbering calls ~4:3 with the March 20^th 940.00 put being the highest volume contract (volume is 1,261).

New 52-week lows (55 new lows today): JJ Snack Foods Inc. (JJSF - $2.47 to $80.05), Lifeway Foods Inc. (LWAY - $0.71 to $20.00), The Marzetti Company (MZTI - $0.08 to $146.33)

Some unusual put activity is being seen in RTX Corp. (RTX - $3.03 to $203.03) which is primarily being driven by a 5,500 contract block that was sold on the April 24^th 175.00 put for $1.41 when the bid/ask spread was $0.50 x $5.00 (open interest is 3). We know that this block is a new position based on the open interest figure and the put sale suggests that the block trader believes RTX will close above the $175.00 price level and/or is comfortable taking a long 550,000 share position in the stock at an effective purchase price of $173.59 if RTX closes below $175.00 at expiration.

GXO Logistics Inc. (GXO - $0.03 to $52.90): Option volume is running at ~200x the daily average on this logistics services provider which is primarily being driven by three large blocks that simultaneously traded on the April 17^th & May 15^th expirations earlier this morning:

• 04/17/2026 60.00 call (open interest is 348): A 5,000 contract block was bought for $0.61 when the bid/ask spread was $0.25 x $0.95.
• 05/15/2026 52.50 put (open interest is 8): A 5,000 contract block was bought for $3.22 when the bid/ask spread was $2.30 x $3.60.
• 05/15/2026 45.00 put (open interest is 0): A 5,000 contract block was sold for $0.67 when the bid/ask spread was $0.35 x $1.35.

We know that these blocks are new positions based on the respective open interest figures, and it appears that the block trader combined a (bullish) long call position on the April 17^th expiration while establishing a (bearish) $7.50-wide bear put spread on the May 15^th expiration. The positioning would suggest that the block trader is near-term (up until the Aril expiration) bullish and intermediate-term (up until the May expiration) bearish.

Green Plains Inc. (GPRE + $1.14 to $16.51): Option volume is running at ~35x the daily average on this low-carbon fuels producer which is primarily being driven by a 5,000 contract block that was bought on the April 17^th 15.00 call for $2.10 when the bid/ask spread was $1.40 x $2.15 (open interest is 46). We know that this block is a new position based on the open interest figure and we can assume the intent is bullish in nature since the trade took place above the midpoint of the bid/ask spread.

Kenvue Inc. (KVUE + $0.15 to $17.86): Option volume is running at ~21x the daily average on this consumer health company which is primarily being driven by two large blocks (5,850, 5,850) that were bought at the same time on the June 18^th 18.00 call for $0.84 each (x 5K contracts x 100 multiplier, excluding commissions) when the bid/ask spread was $0.40 x $0.90 (open interest is 5,848). We know that these blocks are new positions based on the open interest figure and we can assume the intent is bullish in nature since both trades took place above the midpoint of the bid/ask spread.

The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX - 2.90 to 24.29) has been in negative territory all day today (the intraday range is 23.44-26.42), as equity markets are higher across the board around the midday mark (DJI + 343, SPX + 61, $COMP + 263). VIX option volume is above average today at 436,952 contracts, and calls are outnumbering puts roughly 2:1.