Daily Tape Analysis — 2026-08-14
The Story
The market drifted lower in a rotation day — SPY -0.24%, QQQ -0.20% — but the real action was under the surface. AVGO cratered 5.92%, validating yesterday's bearish bet and triggering a flood of new put volume ($36.3M today vs $5.6M yesterday). AMD ripped +6.51%, torching yesterday's bearish conviction call. Yesterday's bullish bets were a near-total miss: CSCO, LLY, META, IBM, and SBUX all fell despite heavy call buying. The tape today is dominated by index-level bearish positioning — QQQ (score 69), IWM (66), and SPY (58) all show heavy put clusters with no TRO confirmation yet.
Bearish Bets to Watch
QQQ (score 69) — $42.8M in unusual puts across 90 contracts, 15 strikes clustered. The 730 strike is the magnet: $6M at 46x V/OI (Sep 4) and $5M at 24x V/OI (Aug 28). Spot sits at $731.01, just above the line. No TRO confirmation. Multi-day trajectory is up 3.07% from 19 days ago, but unusual put activity has been persistent since late July — $42.8M today is down from $60.6M yesterday but the 508x max V/OI on the 739 strike is the highest single-contract ratio in the tape.
IWM (score 66) — $15.3M in unusual puts, PCR 3.77 (most defensive reading on the board). The 289 strike Sep 18 put saw 40,407 contracts at 39x V/OI for $7.6M — a deep OTM bet 5.2% below spot. Spot $304.90, up 2.96% over 18 days. No TRO confirmation. The 289 strike is the conviction level; a break below would validate.
SPY (score 58) — $37.4M in unusual puts, 15 strikes, PCR 1.57. The 770 strike Sep 4 ($3.85M at 2.8x V/OI) and 780 strike Aug 28 ($3.32M at 3x V/OI) are the largest single prints. Spot $776.03, up 3.61% over 19 days. No TRO confirmation. Put notional halved from yesterday's $73M, but the strike clustering around 770-780 suggests a defined downside target.
AVGO (score 44) — $36.3M in unusual puts, a 6.5x explosion from yesterday's $5.6M. Spot $393.02 after the 5.92% drop. The 400 strike Sep 18 put saw 6,204 contracts for $16.3M — the largest single put print of the day. Yesterday's bearish bet was right, and today's volume says they're doubling down. Multi-day: up 1.84% from 19 days ago but down from the 427.57 high on Aug 7.
TSLA (score 51) — $18.9M in unusual puts, 177x V/OI, 3 strikes. Spot $342.35, down 9.94% over 19 days from $380.14. The 340 strike is the battleground with $2.05M at 45.5x V/OI (Sep 11) and $0.9M at 177x V/OI (Aug 24). No TRO confirmation. Weekly trend is down; the bounce from the 295.79 low is losing steam.
Bullish Bets to Watch
CAT (score 67) — $12.1M in unusual calls, TRO confirmed. The 930 strike Oct 16 call at 37.5x V/OI for $6.6M is the standout — a bet on a move to 8.5% above spot ($857.10). The 920 strike Sep 18 call added $4.25M. Multi-day: down 3.78% from 19 days ago but recovering from the 782.98 low on Jul 29. This is the cleanest bullish setup on the tape — TRO confirmed, concentrated strikes, and a clear catalyst window into October.
NVDA (score 42) — $22.2M in unusual calls, 164x V/OI, TRO confirmed. Spot $225.16, up 9.26% over 19 days. The 225 strike Sep 11 call saw 11,213 contracts for $11M at 2.6x V/OI — essentially at-the-money. Multi-day trend is steadily up from the 189.46 low on Jul 29. Both sides are active ($6.9M in puts, score 32), but the call flow is larger and TRO-confirmed.
AVGO (score 46) — $16.5M in unusual calls, 181x V/OI, TRO confirmed. Both sides are heavy: $36.3M in puts vs $16.5M in calls. The 400 strike is the line in the sand — calls at 400 (Aug 28, Sep 4, Sep 11, Sep 25) total $5.3M, while the 400 put (Sep 18) alone is $16.3M. The call buyers are betting on a bounce; the put buyers are betting the 5.92% drop is just the start.
AMD (score 41) — $22.8M in unusual calls, 68x V/OI. Spot $514.39 after a 6.51% surge that crushed yesterday's bearish bet (score 56, $10.8M in puts). The 540 strike Aug 28 call at 8.8x V/OI for $4.8M and 515 strike Aug 26 at 67.7x V/OI for $4.1M are chasing the move. No TRO confirmation. The 550 strike Sep 18 put also saw $8.6M — both sides are active, but the spot move favors bulls today.
The Oracle Read
The tape is most bearish on QQQ — highest conviction score, persistent multi-week put accumulation, and the 730 strike cluster is the clearest downside magnet. AVGO's put explosion after a 5.92% drop is the kind of follow-through that signals institutional conviction, not retail panic. On the bull side, CAT is the standout: TRO-confirmed, concentrated call strikes targeting 8.5% upside by October, and the only name where the bullish thesis is unambiguous. The index-level put buying (QQQ, IWM, SPY all top-3 bearish) without TRO confirmation suggests hedging rather than directional conviction — but the size is notable.
Names to Watch at the Open
- AVGO — bearish, $393.02. Yesterday's puts were right, today's put notional 6.5x'd. 400 strike is the battleground.
- QQQ — bearish, $731.01. 730 strike cluster with $11M in puts. Break below 730 opens the door to 720.
- CAT — bullish, $857.10. TRO-confirmed calls targeting 930 by October. Cleanest bull setup.
- TSLA — bearish, $342.35. $18.9M in puts, down 10% in 19 days. 340 strike is the near-term floor.
- AMD — bullish, $514.39. +6.51% today, crushed yesterday's bearish bet. Chasing calls at 515 and 540.
| Sym | Sector | Notional | V/OI | Cluster | Clust$ | Strikes | Exp | Score | D | W | M | Confirmed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QQQ | Index ETF | $42.8M | 508× | 15 | $29.9M | 727–741 | 2026-09-04 | 69 ⚠️ | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| IWM | Index ETF | $15.3M | 62× | 4 | $8.8M | 284–290 | 2026-09-18 | 66 ⚠️ | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| SPY | Index ETF | $37.4M | 366× | 15 | $28.4M | 765–780 | 2026-09-04 | 58 ⚠️ | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| TSLA | Consumer Discretionary | $18.9M | 177× | 3 | $8.1M | 335–340 | 2026-09-11 | 51 ⚠️ | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| INTC | Technology | $3.0M | 114× | 3 | $2.5M | 110–112 | 2026-08-28 | 47 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| AVGO | Technology | $36.3M | 46× | 3 | $21.2M | 395–402.5 | 2026-09-18 | 44 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| META | Communication Services | $2.5M | 19× | 3 | $2.0M | 570–580 | 2026-10-16 | 42 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| GOOG | Communication Services | $2.6M | 134× | 2 | $1.0M | 355–360 | 2026-09-25 | 41 · | ▼ | ▼ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| GOOGL | Communication Services | $0.7M | 120× | 2 | $0.5M | 370–375 | 2026-08-24 | 36 · | ▼ | ▼ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| INTU | Technology | $1.9M | 32× | 1 | $1.3M | 325 | 2026-08-28 | 35 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▼ | |
| WMT | Consumer Staples | $1.5M | 244× | 2 | $1.5M | 115–116 | 2026-08-28 | 34 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| MRK | Health Care | $0.6M | 168× | 3 | $0.4M | 142–144 | 2026-08-28 | 34 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| TXN | Technology | $0.5M | 64× | 2 | $0.4M | 280–285 | 2026-09-04 | 32 · | ▼ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| NVDA | Technology | $6.9M | 68× | 2 | $2.4M | 227.5–230 | 2026-08-28 | 32 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| AMD | Technology | $16.5M | 241× | 1 | $8.6M | 550 | 2026-09-18 | 30 | ▼ | ▲ | ▲ |
| Sym | Sector | Notional | V/OI | Cluster | Clust$ | Strikes | Exp | Score | D | W | M | Confirmed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAT | Industrials | $12.0M | 40× | 2 | $11.0M | 920–930 | 2026-10-16 | 67 ⚠️ | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| QQQ | Index ETF | $61.7M | 50× | 14 | $44.6M | 726–740 | 2026-08-31 | 57 ⚠️ | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| IWM | Index ETF | $2.3M | 121× | 4 | $1.8M | 304–310 | 2026-09-04 | 53 ⚠️ | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| AVGO | Technology | $16.5M | 181× | 3 | $8.2M | 395–402.5 | 2026-08-28 | 46 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| CSCO | Technology | $2.1M | 587× | 3 | $0.9M | 110–112 | 2026-09-11 | 43 · | ▼ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| NVDA | Technology | $22.2M | 164× | 2 | $13.9M | 225–227.5 | 2026-09-11 | 42 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| SPY | Index ETF | $38.7M | 111× | 11 | $18.5M | 776–788 | 2026-08-31 | 42 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| META | Communication Services | $3.8M | 46× | 3 | $1.3M | 510–520 | 2026-09-25 | 41 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| AMD | Technology | $22.8M | 68× | 2 | $8.1M | 530–540 | 2026-08-28 | 41 · | ▼ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| AMZN | Consumer Discretionary | $5.2M | 34× | 3 | $1.8M | 272.5–277.5 | 2026-08-28 | 41 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| GOOG | Communication Services | $7.5M | 16× | 2 | $5.9M | 295–300 | 2026-09-11 | 41 · | ▼ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| XOM | Energy | $7.9M | 36× | 3 | $3.8M | 137–140 | 2026-08-28 | 40 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| AAPL | Technology | $3.6M | 42× | 2 | $1.6M | 265–270 | 2026-09-11 | 38 · | ▼ | ▲ | ▲ | |
| TSLA | Consumer Discretionary | $43.3M | 184× | 3 | $16.1M | 350–355 | 2026-08-28 | 37 · | ▲ | ▼ | ▲ | |
| MSFT | Technology | $5.9M | 73× | 2 | $2.8M | 425–430 | 2026-09-11 | 36 · | ▲ | ▲ | ▲ | ✅ TRO |
| Sector | Names | PCR_v | PCR_o | UnusualPut$ | UnusualVol | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technology | 15 | 0.56 | 0.48 | $73.6M | 52294 | 🟡 Caution |
| Consumer Discretionary | 11 | 0.59 | 0.78 | $21.8M | 37715 | 🟡 Caution |
| Health Care | 13 | 0.51 | 0.44 | $7.2M | 2763 | 🟡 Caution |
| Communication Services | 10 | 0.45 | 0.75 | $6.4M | 6945 | 🟡 Caution |
| Industrials | 11 | 0.36 | 0.56 | $4.9M | 2088 | 🟡 Caution |
| Financials | 14 | 0.69 | 0.51 | $4.8M | 4120 | 🟡 Caution |
| Consumer Staples | 9 | 0.87 | 0.73 | $2.6M | 4708 | 🟡 Caution |
| Energy | 3 | 0.36 | 0.37 | $0.3M | 1086 | 🟢 Risk-On |
| Utilities | 3 | 0.65 | 0.82 | $0.2M | 536 | 🟢 Risk-On |
| Materials | 1 | 0.48 | 0.83 | $0.0M | 0 | 🟢 Risk-On |
| ETF | PCR_v | PCR_o | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPY | 1.57 | 1.30 | $37.4M | 🔴 Defensive |
| QQQ | 0.64 | 0.73 | $42.8M | 🟡 Caution |
| IWM | 3.77 | 1.80 | $15.3M | 🔴 Defensive |
| Sym | Strike | Exp | Vol | OI | Vol/OI | Notional | OTM% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AVGO | 400 | 2026-09-18 | 6204 | 3941 | 1.6× | $16.3M | -1.8% |
| AMD | 550 | 2026-09-18 | 1531 | 892 | 1.7× | $8.6M | -6.9% |
| AMD | 520 | 2026-09-18 | 990 | 627 | 1.6× | $3.8M | -1.1% |
| AVGO | 400 | 2026-09-04 | 1045 | 466 | 2.2× | $2.4M | -1.8% |
| AVGO | 385 | 2026-09-11 | 1388 | 86 | 16.1× | $2.4M | 2.0% |
| AVGO | 390 | 2026-09-04 | 1239 | 300 | 4.1× | $2.2M | 0.8% |
| INTC | 110 | 2026-08-28 | 2120 | 163 | 13.0× | $2.1M | -7.3% |
| AVGO | 410 | 2026-09-04 | 701 | 186 | 3.8× | $2.1M | -4.3% |
| TSLA | 340 | 2026-09-11 | 1592 | 35 | 45.5× | $2.1M | 0.7% |
| TSLA | 320 | 2026-09-25 | 2236 | 91 | 24.6× | $1.8M | 6.5% |
| TSLA | 335 | 2026-09-11 | 1421 | 135 | 10.5× | $1.5M | 2.1% |
| LLY | 1340 | 2026-09-18 | 80 | 34 | 2.4× | $1.3M | -13.5% |
| INTU | 325 | 2026-08-28 | 1538 | 62 | 24.8× | $1.3M | 6.0% |
| AVGO | 385 | 2026-09-04 | 823 | 106 | 7.8× | $1.3M | 2.0% |
| CAT | 880 | 2026-10-16 | 186 | 73 | 2.5× | $1.2M | -2.7% |
Total unusual put notional: $121.8M across 10 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.