Today's Options Market Update

Before Holiday Feasts, Stocks Build on 3-Day Rally

November 26, 2025 Joe Mazzola

Though major indexes remain down for the month, they're up three days in a row and again early today on rate cut enthusiasm and solid earnings. Jobless data was below expectations.

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(Editor's note: U.S. markets are closed Thursday, November 27, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Due to the early market close, we will neither publish an Option's Market Update Report nor a Weekly Trader's Report this Friday.

Stocks are inching higher as the holiday break beckons, building on a three-day win streak driven by rate cut hopes and solid retail earnings. AI-related stocks mostly climbed ahead of the open despite market leader Nvidia (NVDA) trading near two-month lows, and volatility has eased appreciably this week.

In data today, initial weekly jobless claims totaled 216,000, at the low end of the near-term range and below expectations of 225,000. Weekly mortgage applications barely budged. September durable goods orders rose 0.5%, outpacing consensus of 0.3%. Most of this week's numbers haven't impressed, though yesterday's rally lifted eight of 11 S&P sectors, including interest-rate-sensitive home builder stocks. The 10-year Treasury note yield came off yesterday's one-month low, but yields are likely to remain rangebound in the near-term, said Cooper Howard, director of fixed income research and strategy at the Schwab Center for Financial Research (SCFR).

Small caps led Tuesday's rally. The Russell 2000 (RUT) climbed more than 2% and the S&P 500 index closed above its 50-day moving average for the first time since November 14, a possible sign of technical resilience. More than 50% of S&P 500 stocks are above their 50-day moving averages, up from 31% late last week. For bullish investors, this improved breadth is good news, and so was the ability to rally Tuesday without help from Nvidia, which climbed 2% this morning. Volume across the market might be light today, exacerbating moves, as participants head out ahead of Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Source: Schwab Center for Financial Research

Morning Rush

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield (TNX) is lower by 1 bps 4.00%.

The U.S. Dollar Index ($DXY) is down by 0.04% at 99.63.

The CBOE Volatility Index^® (VIX) is down 6.73% to 17.30.

WTI Crude Oil (/CL) is higher by 0.33% to $58.14/barrel.

Bitcoin (BTC) is rebounding by 2.44% to $89,605.

Ethereum (ETH) is up by 3.24% today to $3,024.

Today's Bullish Activity

Shares of Dell Technologies (DELL + $7.18 to $133.10) are up over 5.50% in morning trading, after the company beat third quarter expectations and posted record revenue of $27.0 billion. In addition, Dell said it expects its fourth quarter revenue to fall between $31 billion to $32 billion. The company also raised its full-year guidance for revenue to between $111.2 billion to $112.2 billion, up from a prior range of between $105 billion and $109 billion. The company also raised its full-year adjusted earnings guidance from $9.55 per share to $9.92 per share versus estimates of $9.55 per share, per Bloomberg.

Dell's COO, Jeff Clarke, said in a statement, "AI momentum is accelerating in the second half of the year, leading to record AI server orders of $12.3 billion and an unprecedented $30 billion in orders year to date. Our five-quarter pipeline is multiples of our $18.4 billion backlog with a mix of neocloud, sovereign and enterprise customers."

Analysts offered mixed updates to the report with Morgan Stanley raising its price target to $113 (which is one of the lowest on the Street), while Barclays and UBS both lowered their price targets to $148 and $167, respectively.

Option trading in DELL currently stands at 86,079 contracts, 4x the average daily volume with calls outpacing puts 1.5:1. Leading the way are the following trades, expirations, and strikes:

November 28th, 2025, 135.00 call accounted for 4,414 contracts; open interest is 3,102 contracts.
December 19th, 2025, 120.00 put accounted for 4,275contracts; open interest is 6,719 contracts.
November 28th, 2025, 140.00 call accounted for 3,630 contracts; open interest is 4,379 contracts.

New 52-week highs (231 new highs today): Nu Holdings Ltd. (NU + $0.70 to $17.30), Broadcom Ltd. (AVGO + $10.35 to $395.38), Kohl's Corp. (KSS + $1.67 to $24.09), Barrick Mining Corp. (B + $0.75 to $39.87)

Notable Call Activity

Unusual call activity is noted today in Comstock Resources Inc. (CRK + $0.83 to $25.97), as call volume currently stands at 38,592 contracts, 51x the average daily volume and 70x the put volume. Activity is greatest in the November 20th, 2026, expiration month, due to a large block order for 38,000 contracts that was sold at the 35.00 call strike. Traders sold these calls in a single block for a price of $2.96 when the bid/ask was $2.95 x $3.80. The open interest at the strike totaled four contracts, so we know this represents new positioning (suggesting neutral to bearish intent). Shares of CRK have rallied nearly 33% in the past three weeks following earnings that topped expectations.

Another name exhibiting unusual activity today is Ambarella Inc. (AMBA - $14.67 to $76.30), as call volume has spiked to 5,473 contracts in morning trading, 6x the average volume. A third of the volume can be attributed to multiple block purchases of the 77.50 strike in the May 15th, 2026, expiration month. Traders have paid an average price of $13.00, the offer at the time, for the 77.50 strike calls over 1,500 times. With only four contracts of open interest, we know this represents new positioning (suggesting bullish intent). Shares of AMBA are getting hit hard today, down over 16.00%, following the company's third quarter earnings announcement which suggested declining gross margins.

Today's Bearish Activity

Shares of Nutanix Inc. (NTNX - $9.81 to $48.96) are down over 16% today, the most in 18 months, after the cloud platform company reported worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results and cut its FY26 sales guidance below estimates. Nutanix reported quarterly EPS of $0.21 which missed the analyst consensus estimate $0.41. The company also missed its topline figure, as it reported quarterly sales of $670.57m which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $676.75m.

Nutanix provided guidance for second quarter revenue of $705 million to $740 million versus estimates of $749.09 million, and lowered its full-year revenue outlook. Nutanix now expects fiscal 2026 revenue of $2.82 billion to $2.86 billion versus estimates of $2.92 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. This has prompted a few analyst price target cuts to NTNX shares including Needham, B of A, and Piper Sandler, who all lowered their targets to $65, $75, and $72, respectively.

Option trading in NTNX currently stands at 8,504 contracts in morning trading, on pace for 4x the daily average, with calls outpacing puts 1.5:1. Leading the way are the following trades, expirations, and strikes:

January 16th, 2026, 55.00 call accounted for 1,110 contracts; open interest is 620 contracts.
December 19th, 2025, 55.00 put accounted for 532 contracts; open interest is 835 contracts.
December 19th, 2025, 55.00 call accounted for 500 contracts; open interest is 1,152 contracts.

New 52-week lows (23 new lows today): Nutanix Inc. (NTNX - $9.81 to $48.96), Pagerduty Inc. (PD - $3.98 to $11.20), Copart Inc. (CPRT - $0.02 to $39.04), Makemytrip Ltd. (MMYT - $1.73 to $71.08)

Notable Put Activity

There is unusual put activity today in Alcoa Corp. (AA + $2.28 to $41.48). This activity equates to over 34,240 put contracts, 15x average daily put volume and 2x today's call volume. Most of the volume can be attributed to the December 5th, 2025, expiration, specifically at the 39.50 and 37.50 strikes, where it appears that traders are legging into a large 1x2 ratio spread. There is no specific spread designation for the trade, but between the volume and pricing, it suggests traders are financing the purchase of over 9,000 of the 39.50 strike puts with the sale of 18,000 of the 37.50 strike puts. The average price of these 1x2 ratio spreads is around $0.16. This is what it known as a front put spread and essentially embeds a long put vertical with a short put to create a lower break-even and the potential to take delivery of shares at the $37.50 price level. Shares of AA may be breaking out of a six-week price channel with today's move.

Unusual activity has also been detected in The Campbell's Co. (CPB + $0.02 to $30.44), as put volume stands at 10,379 contracts in morning trading, 6x average daily volume and 6x the call volume. Nearly half the volume comes from the December 19th, 2025, expiration month, specifically at the 29.00 strike where over 5,146 contracts have already traded, with a block purchase of 5,000 contracts driving the activity. Traders bought 5,000 of the 29.00 strike puts for $0.65 when the bid/ask was $0.55 x $0.65. The open interest at the strike was only 468 contracts, so we know this represents new positioning (suggesting bearish intent). Shares of CPB have had a rough go, down 33% from their 52-week high price of $46.95.

Gauging Volatility

The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX - 1.26 to 17.30) is down this morning by 6.73%, as equity markets are higher across the board (DJI + 423, SPX + 60, COMPX + 222). VIX movement has occurred within a normal range today (the intraday range is 17.30 – 18.70). The highest volume contract is currently the December 17th, 2025, 30.00 call (volume is 42,419 vs. open interest of 102,129).

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