Daily Options Outlook | NVIDIA rises 7.82% in pre-market trading, reigniting AI computing power trades; Salesforce and CRWD surge post-earnings—is a revaluation of software stocks underway?

Today's Options Opportunity Outlook

On the macro front,$Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ.US)$Up 1.14% in pre-market trading,$SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY.US)$Up 0.46% in pre-market trading. The US July PCE inflation data met expectations but remained above the Federal Reserve's 2% target, intensifying market concerns over interest rate policy. Options market data shows the Put/Call volume ratio for QQQ rose to 1.13 in the previous trading session, with Implied Volatility (IV) reaching 21.26%.

On the individual stock front,$NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$Up 7.82% in pre-market trading, earnings reignite AI computing power trades.NVIDIA's earnings and forward guidance significantly exceeded market expectations. Q2 revenue reached $96.2 billion, with data center revenue at approximately $89.0 billion. The company also projected revenue growth of about 70% for the next fiscal year. More importantly, management continued to emphasize that demand for AI infrastructure remains supply-constrained, alleviating previous market concerns about cloud providers' capex peaking and declining ROI on AI investments. AWS's new large-scale procurement partnership further strengthens demand visibility. Market rumors also suggest NVIDIA is in negotiations to acquire Hugging Face, with a potential deal size exceeding $13 billion, though talks are still ongoing.

In options trading, the put/call volume ratio for the stock rose to 0.61, with implied volatility reaching 44.63%.NVDA's pre-market gain has already surpassed the ~5.4% move priced in by the options market before earnings, indicating the event-driven move has exceeded prior options pricing.Consequently, the odds of profitably chasing call options after the open will decrease significantly. The key focus tonight is whether the pre-market breakout level near $220 can convert into new support.

$CrowdStrike (CRWD.US)$Up approximately 8.6% in pre-market trading, further validating the AI security platform thesis.CrowdStrike's revenue for this quarter reached$1.47 billion, a 26% year-over-year increase,with ARR reaching $5.84 billion, up 25% year-over-year. More critically, net new ARR reached $333 million, a 51% year-over-year increase, clearly demonstrating robust enterprise security spending. The company further raised its full-year net new ARR growth guidance, increasing the midpoint growth rate to 34%.

$Salesforce (CRM.US)$ Up approximately 10% in pre-market trading. Salesforce reported Q2 revenue of $11.35 billion, an 11% year-over-year increase, with cRPO up 14% year-over-year. ARR from Agentforce and Data 360 has approached$3.9 billion, representing a year-over-year growth of over 210%.Agentforce's ARR exceeded $1.5 billion, representing a year-over-year growth of over 240%. The company also raised its full-year revenue guidance to $46.1–$46.4 billion and announced a deepened partnership with Anthropic to launch "Claudeforce." The significance of these figures lies in the market finally witnessing Agentic AI transition from a product narrative to actual revenue and orders.

Over the past few months, software stocks have faced valuation pressure due to concerns that "AI will replace traditional SaaS." However, this earnings report demonstrates that large software companies possessing customer data, business processes, and distribution channels may still serve as critical gateways for the commercialization of AI Agents. $Salesforce (CRM.US)$ The Put/Call volume ratio rose to 1.25 on the previous trading day, with implied volatility (IV) reaching 49.03%.

Recap of yesterday's options activity

Index Options

On August 26 (Eastern Time), trading volume in the US stock index options market increased, with a total of 4.86 million contracts traded. The Put/Call ratio declined to 0.94.

For the upcoming expiration date,$S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ The distribution of options trading volume exhibited the following characteristics: the peak put option volume was at the 7,675 strike price, while the peak call option volume was at the 7,750 strike price.

Single-Stock Options

$SpaceX (SPCX.US)$Closed up 1.22%, with 603,800 option contracts traded; the Put/Call volume ratio rose to 0.57. SpaceX announced the construction of a new Starbase launch facility in Louisiana, investing $100 billion to enhance Starship rocket launch capabilities.

Options Volume Rankings

Among the top 10 stocks by options volume,$Tesla (TSLA.US)$The Put/Call volume ratio peaked at 0.78. Tesla raised prices for two Cybertruck models, with the dual-motor all-wheel-drive version increasing to $75,000.

The highest put/call open interest ratio is$Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$Reaching 1.17. Raymond James upgraded AMD to Strong Buy with a target price of $641, citing its competitive advantage in the server CPU market.

Implied Volatility Leaderboard (underlying market cap > $1 billion and options volume > 100,000)

$IREN Ltd (IREN.US)$Implied volatility hit a high of 96.35%, down 2.65% from the previous trading day. IREN is scheduled to release its Q4 financial report on August 27. Technical indicators show a strong sell signal, while analysts maintain a Moderate Buy rating with a target price of $77.89.

$SanDisk (SNDK.US)$Implied volatility saw the largest increase, reaching 78.16%, down 0.57% from the previous trading day. SanDisk and Kioxia plan to invest 5 trillion yen over the next six years to expand production facilities. Shares rose over 4% in after-hours trading, boosted by NVIDIA's earnings.

Risk Warning

An option is a contract that grants the holder the right—but not the obligation—to buy or sell an underlying asset at a predetermined price on or before a specified date. Option prices are influenced by multiple factors, including the current price of the underlying asset, strike price, time to expiration, and implied volatility.

Implied volatility reflects the market’s expectation of future price fluctuations over a given period. It is derived by reverse-engineering the Black-Scholes option pricing model and is generally viewed as an indicator of market sentiment. When investors anticipate greater volatility, they may be willing to pay higher premiums for options to hedge risk, resulting in higher implied volatility.

Traders and investors use implied volatility to assess the attractiveness of option prices, identify potential mispricings, and manage risk exposure.

Disclaimer
This content does not constitute an offer, solicitation, recommendation, advice, opinion, or any guarantee regarding any securities, financial products, or instruments. The risk of loss in trading options can be substantial. In certain circumstances, your losses may exceed the initial margin deposit. Even if you place contingent orders such as 'stop-loss' or 'limit' orders, you may not be able to avoid losses. Market conditions may prevent the execution of such orders. You may be required to deposit additional margin on short notice. If you fail to meet such margin requirements within the stipulated time, your open positions may be liquidated. You remain fully liable for any resulting deficit in your account. Therefore, you should thoroughly research and understand options and carefully consider whether such trading is suitable for you based on your financial situation and investment objectives. If you trade options, you should be familiar with the procedures for exercising options and handling expiration, as well as your rights and obligations upon exercise or expiration. Options trading involves substantial risk and is not suitable for all investors. Investors should carefully read"Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options"。

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