Monday, June 15, 2026, Nasdaq Marketsite, New York, USA.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tech bulls may not have to wait too long for a new high if the biggest single trade takes place. Invesco QQQ Trust ETF Thursday is any indication.
The trader spent $24 million on a three-part call spread, a high-conviction directional bet that would require the Nasdaq 100 index to hit a new all-time high by the end of the month, and the third-largest trade of all options traded Thursday.
Despite the recent volatility; Nasdaq 100 The index last hit a high on June 3, with most options trading volume hovering around the $710 level, according to ThinkOrSwim data. at the same time, S&P500 has been trading in a range of about 200 points since early May.
The main part of the bullish position, executed approximately 90 minutes after the opening bell, was the purchase of 28,000 736 strike calls expiring on July 31st for $30 million. At the same time, the individual sold $6 million worth of 730/740 strike call spreads that expired on the same day, lowering trading costs but pushing the break-even point to about $750. This was $2 below QQQ’s high. From early June.
Invesco QQQ Trust since the beginning of the year
“If he doesn’t have another position for this, he needs to explode Qs,” Scott Bauer, CEO of Chicago-based Prosper Trading Academy, said by phone. “The spread reduces his costs but pushes up the break-even level. If the index just went down, he would be killed.”
The open interest on the 736 strike call was equal to the amount traded at the time of execution, suggesting that traders may have been buying back the calls they had sold, perhaps a low-conviction trade, but still reflecting a neutral to positive view of the index.
Of the $1.6 billion in QQQ options traded on Thursday, $944 million involved calls, according to SpotGamma data, while the number of calls sold and bought was about the same, according to ThinkOrSwim data. For both puts and calls, the number of contracts sold and the number of contracts bought were about the same.
While the $24 million trade stands out for its clear directional bias, one of the day’s two larger trades, the S&P 500 ETF SPY, was also bullish.
In that fund, someone bought 2,000 deep-in-the-money 500-strike calls expiring on July 24th for $50 million.
The second largest single deal at the time was the nuclear business. OkloSo, someone bought $46 million worth of 200-strike calls expiring in January 2028 and $21 million worth of 90-strike calls expiring in mid-December. The stock is currently trading at $50.
