Daily Tape Analysis — 2026-08-07
The Story
Markets rallied across the board — SPY +0.65%, QQQ +1.12%, IWM +1.15% — and yesterday's bearish conviction bets were wrong on 7 of 10 names. Despite the rally, the tape is defensive: $91.4M in unusual puts hit the tape, SPY PCR_v sits at 1.65, IWM at 4.17, and NVDA alone drew $43.1M in bearish flow including a single $37M put print at the 220 strike. The only bearish bets that paid off yesterday were AMD (-1.44%) and GOOGL (-0.99%), both of which saw continued put activity today. The divergence between price action and options flow is widening — someone is paying up for downside protection while the market grinds higher.
Bearish Bets to Watch
AVGO (score 73) — $5.5M in unusual puts across 7 contracts, concentrated at the 420 (30.1x V/OI) and 425 (33.8x V/OI) strikes expiring Sep 4. Spot closed at $427.57, up 1.62% on the day and 10.79% over 13 days. No TRO confirmation. Yesterday's bearish bet was wrong (+1.62%), and the stock has not had a down day since Jul 29. Put notional is declining — $7.4M on Aug 5, $7.3M yesterday, $5.5M today — but the 3-strike cluster and ▲/▲/▲ trend signal suggest conviction isn't fading.
SPY (score 53) — $52.1M in unusual puts across 74 contracts, with 11 contracts exceeding 20x V/OI. The 765 strike (Aug 21) drew $6.4M at 3.8x V/OI, and the 779 strike (Sep 4) printed at 25.2x V/OI. PCR_v at 1.65 is defensive. Yesterday's bearish bet was wrong (+0.65%). Unusual put notional has fallen from $244.4M on Aug 5 to $52.1M — a 79% decline in two days.
AMD (score 50) — $3.5M in unusual puts, with a 170x V/OI print at the 430 strike (Sep 25) and 83.5x at 510. Spot fell 1.44% today, making this one of the few bearish bets that was right yesterday. The stock is down 11.18% over 13 days with a 24% range. The 510 strike put at 83.5x V/OI is a deep ITM bet suggesting further downside.
IWM (score 50) — $13.8M in unusual puts, PCR_v at 4.17. The 286 strike (Sep 18) drew $6.7M at 8.8x V/OI, and the 291 strike (Aug 21) printed $2.8M at 11.7x V/OI. Yesterday's bearish bet was wrong (+1.15%). Small-cap put flow has been heavy since Jul 29, with PCR_v consistently above 3.0.
NVDA (score 46) — $43.1M in unusual puts, dominated by a single $37M print at the 220 strike (Oct 16) at 8.2x V/OI — the largest individual bearish bet of the day. Spot rallied 2.35% today and is up 8.66% over 14 days. Yesterday's bearish bet was wrong (+2.35%). The 220 strike is just 1.8% OTM, making this a near-the-money directional bet.
Bullish Bets to Watch
WFC (score 52) — $11.4M in unusual calls, TRO confirmed. Deep ITM: 75 strike at 257.3x V/OI ($4.4M) and 78 strike at 20.3x V/OI ($6.7M), both expiring Aug 21. Spot at $87.26, down 0.39% on the day. These are 11-14% ITM — the bet is that WFC holds above these levels through Aug 21. TRO confirmation and the concentrated strike cluster make this the cleanest bull signal on the tape.
LLY (score 52) — $3.7M in unusual calls, led by the 1190 strike (Sep 4) at 56.5x V/OI ($1.35M). Spot at $1,185.96, down 0.49% on the day. No TRO confirmation. The stock is up only 1.95% over 14 days with a 9% range — the call activity is betting on a breakout from this consolidation.
ORCL (score 46) — $6.2M in unusual calls, with the 150 strike (Aug 28) drawing $3.4M at 2.0x V/OI and the 138 strike (Sep 11) at 31.1x V/OI. Spot +2.44% today, +15.75% over 13 days. The 140 strike (Sep 25) printed at 72x V/OI. Call flow resumed today after two quiet days — $6.2M is the highest since Aug 4.
MSFT (score 45) — $17.8M in unusual calls, TRO confirmed. The 545 strike (Sep 18) drew $3.5M at 5.6x V/OI, and the 570 strike (Sep 11) printed at 195x V/OI. Deep ITM calls at 448/450/452 (Aug 17) at 27.5-82x V/OI. Spot flat at $499.88, up 25.35% over 14 days. The 545 strike is 9% OTM — a bet on continued momentum.
The Oracle Read
The tape is defensive while price is rallying — that divergence is the signal. SPY and IWM put flow remains heavy, and NVDA's $37M single put print is the kind of size that doesn't show up for hedging. The bearish bets that were right (AMD, GOOGL) have the cleanest setups because price is already moving their way. On the bull side, WFC's TRO-confirmed deep ITM call cluster is the highest-conviction signal — someone is putting $11.4M to work saying WFC stays above $78 through Aug 21.
Names to Watch at the Open
- NVDA — bearish, $37M put at 220 strike (1.8% OTM), spot $223.93
- AVGO — bearish, score 73, 420/425 put cluster at 30-34x V/OI, spot $427.57
- AMD — bearish, score 50, was right yesterday (-1.44%), 170x V/OI at 430 strike, spot $482.28
- WFC — bullish, score 52, TRO confirmed, 257x V/OI deep ITM calls at 75/78, spot $87.26
- ORCL — bullish, score 46, call flow resumed at $6.2M, +15.75% in 13 days, spot $146.94
| Sym | Sector | Notional | V/OI | Cluster | Clust$ | Strikes | Exp | Score | D | W | M | Confirmed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AVGO | Technology | $5.5M | 34× | 3 | $4.4M | 420–427.5 | 2026-09-04 | 73 🔥 | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| SPY | Index ETF | $52.1M | 321× | 15 | $35.1M | 765–780 | 2026-08-21 | 53 ⚠️ | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| AMD | Technology | $3.5M | 170× | 4 | $1.3M | 475–482.5 | 2026-09-25 | 50 ⚠️ | ▼ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| IWM | Index ETF | $13.8M | 44× | 3 | $10.2M | 286–292 | 2026-09-18 | 50 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| ADBE | Technology | $5.1M | 29× | 2 | $2.6M | 275–280 | 2026-10-16 | 49 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▼ | |
| NVDA | Technology | $43.1M | 41× | 2 | $40.9M | 220–222.5 | 2026-10-16 | 46 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| QQQ | Index ETF | $11.9M | 36× | 7 | $4.8M | 718–731 | 2026-10-16 | 38 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| MSFT | Technology | $4.3M | 9× | 2 | $3.1M | 495–500 | 2026-09-04 | 36 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| TSLA | Consumer Discretionary | $1.6M | 18× | 3 | $1.2M | 325–330 | 2026-08-21 | 36 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| GOOGL | Communication Services | $1.5M | 110× | 3 | $1.0M | 390–395 | 2026-08-19 | 35 · | ▼ | ▼ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| PG | Consumer Staples | $0.1M | 209× | 2 | $0.1M | 144–146 | 2026-09-11 | 35 · | ▼ | ▼ | ▼ | ✅ TRO |
| CHTR | Communication Services | $0.6M | 2× | 4 | $0.5M | 146–149 | 2026-09-04 | 35 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▼ | |
| META | Communication Services | $1.2M | 21× | 3 | $0.9M | 615–620 | 2026-08-21 | 35 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| GE | Industrials | $0.2M | 37× | 2 | $0.2M | 350–355 | 2026-09-04 | 33 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| GS | Financials | $2.6M | 24× | 4 | $0.9M | 1160–1180 | 2026-09-25 | 30 · | ▼ | ▲ | ▲ |
| Sym | Sector | Notional | V/OI | Cluster | Clust$ | Strikes | Exp | Score | D | W | M | Confirmed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WFC | Financials | $11.4M | 257× | 2 | $6.9M | 77.5–79 | 2026-08-21 | 52 ⚠️ | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| LLY | Health Care | $3.5M | 56× | 3 | $2.0M | 1190–1210 | 2026-09-04 | 52 ⚠️ | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| ORCL | Technology | $6.2M | 72× | 2 | $3.7M | 150–152.5 | 2026-08-28 | 46 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▼ | |
| MSFT | Technology | $17.8M | 195× | 4 | $4.9M | 447.5–455 | 2026-09-18 | 45 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| SPY | Index ETF | $62.0M | 397× | 15 | $29.1M | 764–779 | 2026-08-31 | 43 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| GOOG | Communication Services | $3.9M | 27× | 3 | $2.5M | 307.5–312.5 | 2026-08-21 | 42 · | ▼ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| TSLA | Consumer Discretionary | $9.7M | 16× | 3 | $5.2M | 327.5–332.5 | 2026-09-04 | 41 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| QQQ | Index ETF | $12.6M | 65× | 7 | $5.5M | 719–732 | 2026-10-16 | 39 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| BKNG | Consumer Discretionary | $3.1M | 19× | 3 | $1.9M | 212.6–213.2 | 2026-09-18 | 37 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▼ | ✅ TRO |
| IBM | Technology | $87.7M | 101× | 2 | $57.0M | 210–212.5 | 2026-08-21 | 37 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| QCOM | Technology | $5.4M | 24× | 1 | $3.0M | 175 | 2026-09-04 | 36 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| GOOGL | Communication Services | $3.7M | 62× | 3 | $1.5M | 310–315 | 2026-08-19 | 35 · | ▼ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| V | Financials | $0.7M | 94× | 2 | $0.7M | 325–330 | 2026-09-04 | 34 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| AVGO | Technology | $9.5M | 46× | 2 | $3.4M | 430–435 | 2026-08-28 | 33 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| META | Communication Services | $2.5M | 25× | 4 | $1.3M | 505–515 | 2026-08-17 | 33 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ |
| Sector | Names | PCR_v | PCR_o | UnusualPut$ | UnusualVol | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technology | 15 | 0.44 | 0.45 | $68.9M | 60133 | 🟡 Caution |
| Financials | 18 | 0.68 | 0.54 | $5.2M | 2646 | 🟡 Caution |
| Health Care | 14 | 0.37 | 0.55 | $4.2M | 3270 | 🟡 Caution |
| Industrials | 12 | 0.66 | 0.59 | $4.0M | 1991 | 🟡 Caution |
| Communication Services | 10 | 0.53 | 0.76 | $3.8M | 5358 | 🟡 Caution |
| Consumer Staples | 10 | 0.70 | 0.84 | $2.5M | 837 | 🟡 Caution |
| Consumer Discretionary | 11 | 0.47 | 0.64 | $2.4M | 10645 | 🟡 Caution |
| Materials | 2 | 2.77 | 1.25 | $0.2M | 4585 | 🟡 Caution |
| Energy | 3 | 0.67 | 0.53 | $0.1M | 1864 | 🟢 Risk-On |
| Real Estate | 2 | 1.12 | 0.99 | $0.0M | 0 | ⚪ Neutral |
| Utilities | 3 | 0.74 | 0.82 | $0.0M | 0 | 🟢 Risk-On |
| ETF | PCR_v | PCR_o | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPY | 1.65 | 1.34 | $52.1M | 🔴 Defensive |
| QQQ | 1.11 | 0.90 | $11.9M | 🟡 Caution |
| IWM | 4.17 | 2.39 | $13.8M | 🔴 Defensive |
| Sym | Strike | Exp | Vol | OI | Vol/OI | Notional | OTM% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVDA | 220 | 2026-10-16 | 29289 | 3566 | 8.2× | $37.0M | 1.8% |
| IBM | 235 | 2026-10-16 | 2569 | 273 | 9.4× | $4.0M | 0.9% |
| AVGO | 420 | 2026-09-04 | 1235 | 41 | 30.1× | $2.5M | 1.8% |
| ADBE | 280 | 2026-10-16 | 699 | 24 | 29.1× | $2.2M | -5.6% |
| ACN | 200 | 2026-08-21 | 798 | 2 | 399.0× | $2.0M | -13.8% |
| NVDA | 220 | 2026-08-17 | 5684 | 289 | 19.7× | $1.6M | 1.8% |
| AVGO | 425 | 2026-09-04 | 675 | 20 | 33.8× | $1.5M | 0.6% |
| MSFT | 500 | 2026-09-04 | 858 | 95 | 9.0× | $1.3M | -0.0% |
| NVDA | 222.5 | 2026-08-21 | 2017 | 1164 | 1.7× | $1.0M | 0.6% |
| ADBE | 270 | 2026-10-16 | 396 | 53 | 7.5× | $1.0M | -1.8% |
| CVS | 110 | 2026-08-21 | 560 | 10 | 56.0× | $0.8M | -15.0% |
| TSLA | 327.5 | 2026-08-21 | 729 | 153 | 4.8× | $0.7M | 0.0% |
| MA | 615 | 2026-08-28 | 111 | 53 | 2.1× | $0.6M | -9.3% |
| LLY | 1360 | 2026-08-28 | 32 | 16 | 2.0× | $0.6M | -14.7% |
| CVS | 106 | 2026-08-21 | 506 | 323 | 1.6× | $0.6M | -10.8% |
Total unusual put notional: $91.4M across 11 sectors. Sectors with 🔴 Defensive signal have BOTH high PCR (>1.2) AND >$2M of unusual put buying — institutions are actively hedging there. 🟢 Risk-On means call-heavy with no defensive flow — the safest put-selling ground.
How to read the Sector Tape
The sector tape aggregates the daily option chain by GICS sector. For each sector it computes the put/call ratio (PCR) and the total notional of unusual put prints (contracts where today's volume exceeds existing open interest by 50%+). The signal tells you where institutions are positioning defensively vs. where they're comfortable being long.
- PCR (put/call ratio) — put volume ÷ call volume (or OI). Above 1.0 = puts trade more than calls (defensive). Below 0.8 = call-heavy (risk-on). The OI version is more stable; the volume version is more reactive to today's flow.
- UnusualPut$ — total notional ($ = volume × mid × 100) of put contracts where volume > 1.5× open interest AND notional > $50K. This is the UnusualWhales signal: new positions opening rather than existing ones trading hands. Large values = someone is paying up for protection.
- Signal — derived from PCR + unusual notional. 🔴 Defensive (PCR > 1.2 AND > $2M unusual) = heavy hedging — be cautious selling puts there. 🟡 Caution = some defensive flow. 🟢 Risk-On (PCR < 0.9, < $500K unusual) = calmest put-selling ground. ⚪ Neutral = mixed.
How to use it with ChainScan
The sector tape is the weather report above the single-name scanner. A bull-put-spread TAKE verdict on a name in a 🟢 Risk-On sector is high confidence — the tape confirms nobody's hedging there. A TAKE verdict on a name in a 🔴 Defensive sector should be downgraded: institutions are actively buying puts at the strikes you'd be selling, so either skip the trade, go further OTM (0.15 delta instead of 0.20), or shorten DTE to get ahead of the hedging flow. The ETF block (SPY/QQQ/IWM) gives the macro read — if QQQ is 🔴 Defensive, every tech name on the ChainScan table carries extra risk.
The top-prints table
Shows the 15 largest unusual put prints across all sectors, sorted by notional. This is where you see the actual whale activity: which symbol, which strike, which expiration, and how much money is behind it. A single $50M put print could be one institution hedging a long book (not necessarily bearish) or a fresh directional bet. When you see clusters across multiple strikes and names in the same sector, the institutional interpretation gets stronger.
🎯 Smart Money — directional-bet detection (both sides)
Two tables surface institutional directional bets. 🐻 Bearish bets (unusual put activity): names where put buying looks like a coordinated bear bet. 🐂 Bullish bets (unusual call activity): names where call buying looks like a coordinated bull bet. The conviction score separates directional bets from dispersed hedging using three features: (1) V/OI breadth — fraction of notional in contracts with V/OI > 20×, discounted by sample size; (2) strike concentration — fraction of notional in the dominant strike cluster (within 2% of spot); (3) notional scale — saturates at $5M. Score ≥70 = strong directional bet, ≥50 = moderate, ≥30 = some clustering.
The TRO columns (D/W/M) show the trend on daily/weekly/monthly timeframes. ✅ TRO Confirmed: for bearish bets, daily AND weekly both ▼ (downtrend); for bullish bets, daily AND weekly both ▲ (uptrend). The highest-conviction signals are bets in the direction TRO already confirms. A high score with TRO NOT confirmed means the option market may be ahead of the trend indicator — an early warning.
Example (bearish): LLY on 2026-07-29 had $27.7M unusual puts, V/OI up to 284×, concentrated in 5 strikes within $20 of spot, placed at the top of a 5-day rally. TRO daily red since July 15. LLY fell 4% the next day. Example (bullish): AMD on 2026-07-29 had $28M unusual calls at the bottom of a 22% crash week ($543→$425). The calls were concentrated in Aug 7 expiry (through earnings Aug 4). AMD bounced +15% the next day on a Microsoft-led chip rebound and a $14B Core Scientific deal. Both sides of the tape are predictive.
Caveat: open interest lags one day (reported from the previous close). Volume can be driven by a single large order as easily as by distributed flow. Hedging is not the same as bearish — a put buyer may be insuring a long position, not speculating. Use the tape as a confirming colour on top of technical analysis, not as a standalone forecast.