AMD Options Traders Put Chips At The Center Of The Table

Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD soared over 36% to a new all-time high of $122.49 in the six days following its July 27 second-quarter earnings print and raised its revenue outlook for the year.

On Tuesday, the chipmaker announced the release of its New AMD Radeon PRO W6000X Series GPUS For Mac Pro. AMD is also expected to release its Radeon RX 6600 XT and Radeon RX 6600 graphics cards on Aug. 11.

AMD has begun to consolidate the big move north and on Thursday morning AMD had retraced 10% from its record high when bulls came in and bought the dip. The consolidation has set AMD’s stock into a bull flag pattern with the pole created between July 28 and August 4 and the flag formed between Wednesday and Friday.

On Friday, AMD options traders were hammering call contracts to position themselves for a bullish break up from the bull flag pattern to a new all-time high. Together the traders purchased well over $2.95 million worth of call contracts with one trader spending $326,625 on a single order. The following options trades were filtered to only include those with a total purchase price of over $100,000.

Why It’s Important: When a sweep order occurs, it indicates the trader wanted to get into a position quickly and is anticipating an imminent large move in stock price. A sweeper pays market price for the call or put option instead of placing a bid, which sweeps the order book of multiple exchanges to fill the order immediately.

These types of option orders are usually made by institutions, and retail investors can find watching for sweepers useful because it indicates “smart money” has entered into a position.

The AMD Trades: Below is a look at the notable options alerts, courtesy of Benzinga Pro:

• At 10:07 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the midpoint of 663 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $125 expiring on Sept. 17. The trade represented a $278,460 bullish bet for which the trader paid $4.20 per option contract.
• At 10:10 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 440 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $130 expiring on Oct. 15. The trade represented a $222,200 bullish bet for which the trader paid $5.05 per option contract.
• At 10:10 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 1005 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $120 expiring on Aug. 20. The trade represented a $326,625 bullish bet for which the trader paid $3.25 per option contract.
• At 10:11 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 458 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $130 expiring on Sept. 17. The trade represented a $151,140 bullish bet for which the trader paid $3.30 per option contract.
• At 10:12 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep above ask of 500 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $130 expiring on Oct. 15. The trade represented a $280,000 bullish bet for which the trader paid $5.60 per option contract.
• At 10:15 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 355 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $130 expiring on Sept. 17. The trade represented a $122,475 bullish bet for which the trader paid $3.45 per option contract.
• At 10:16 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 511 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $130 expiring on Sept. 17. The trade represented a $173,740 bullish bet for which the trader paid $3.40 per option contract.
• At 10:17 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 788 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $118 expiring on Aug. 13. The trade represented a $244,280 bullish bet for which the trader paid $3.10 per option contract.
• At 10:38 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 739 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $125 expiring on Sept. 17. The trade represented a $339,940 bullish bet for which the trader paid $4.60 per option contract.
• At 10:48 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 360 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $120 expiring on Aug. 27. The trade represented a $143,640 bullish bet for which the trader paid $3.99 per option contract.
• At 11:09 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 230 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $112 expiring on Aug. 27. The trade represented a $134,550 bullish bet for which the trader paid $5.85 per option contract.
• At 11:11 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 700 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $118 expiring on Aug. 13. The trade represented a $111,300 bullish bet for which the trader paid $1.59 per option contract.
• At 11:14 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 368 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $115 expiring on Sept. 17. The trade represented a $173,740 bullish bet for which the trader paid $6.60 per option contract.
• At 11:15 a.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 260 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $130 expiring on Oct. 15. The trade represented a $176,800 bullish bet for which the trader paid $6.80 per option contract.
• At 12:30 p.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 500 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $114 expiring on Aug. 20. The trade represented a $225,000 bullish bet for which the trader paid $4.50 per option contract.
• At 12:51 p.m., a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 557 Advanced Micro Devices options with a strike price of $120 expiring on Aug. 20. The trade represented a $127,553 bullish bet for which the trader paid $2.29 per option contract.