Intel closed at $100.86, gaining 10.84%. Despite the rally, the largest options trades struck a cautious tone. A massive $6.85 million bear call spread dominated the tape, capping upside through 2027, while a bullish $2.32 million double-call purchase for 2026 signaled a contrarian bet on sustained momentum. The overall flow skewed bearish as heavy call selling overshadowed optimistic positioning.

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Options Indicators

INTC’s implied volatility is 90.21%, and with an IV percentile of 88.45%, current option pricing sits in an elevated range, indicating volatility is high relative to its own recent history and options are priced expensively. The IV/HV ratio of 1.17 further suggests implied volatility is running above historical realized volatility, meaning the market is assigning a premium to future uncertainty. The Call/Put volume ratio is 2.96.

Large Trades

A bearish bear call spread worth $6.85 million was the largest displayed trade, built by selling 1,500 December 17, 2027 $140.00 calls and buying 1,500 December 17, 2027 $170.00 calls. Both legs were out of the money versus the $100.86 reference stock price, and the structure is a classic income-generating bearish strategy that profits if INTC stays below the short strike or at least fails to rally aggressively toward it. Using the preprocessed leg amounts, the trader received $3.82 million from the short calls and paid $3.03 million for the long calls, for a net premium received of $0.79 million. That net credit profile points to a view that upside should remain capped over the long run, while the long $170.00 calls serve as risk protection against an extreme rally.

A directional double-call purchase worth $2.32 million was the second featured trade, consisting of long 5,125 August 7, 2026 $104.00 calls and long 5,125 August 7, 2026 $106.00 calls. Both strikes were out of the money relative to the $100.86 stock reference, making this a net-debit bullish volatility expression aimed at capturing a meaningful upside move rather than generating income. Based on the provided figures, the trader paid $1.31 million for the $104.00 calls and $1.01 million for the $106.00 calls, resulting in a net premium paid of $2.32 million. The use of two nearby upside strikes suggests conviction that INTC could make a sizable upward move by that expiration, with the buyer seeking leveraged participation if momentum accelerates.

Overall, the large-trade flow leans bearish on balance. While there was meaningful bullish call buying, including outright upside speculation and a notable directional double-call purchase, the larger capital concentration skewed toward call selling and bear call spreads, highlighted by the dominant long-dated bearish spread and several sizable short-call positions at higher strikes. That pattern suggests the market’s biggest traders are generally willing to fade or cap upside rather than chase a sustained breakout, so the broader read from the full large-trade tape is moderately bearish for INTC.

Strategy Reference

Given the elevated IV percentile, premium sellers may consider out-of-the-money put sales to capitalize on rich pricing; for a defined-risk bearish stance mirroring the large trade, a bear call spread using the $140.00/$170.00 strikes in a nearer expiration could reduce margin requirements while aligning with the prevailing capped-upside sentiment.