S&P 500 options volume shatters records in 3.6% weekly rally
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- S&P 500 options activity hit historic levels on Tuesday, with over 4 million index calls trading on Cboe as the benchmark first crossed 7,700, topping the previous call-volume record set in May by 10%
- Zero-day-to-expiry call options in the S&P 500 set a record of 2.4 million trades on Tuesday, while the put/call ratio across all options plunged to 0.83 — the second-lowest on record against an average above 1
- S&P 500 open interest ended the week at 27.4 million contracts (93rd percentile over the past year), with the call-to-put open interest ratio in the 95th percentile, per Cboe
- SPY options positioning shows the 760-strike as the most popular level by combined open interest with 94,000 open puts roughly 1.7% below Friday's close, while the 785-strike holds 114,000 open calls on the upside
- Semiconductor ETFs powered the rally, with iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) gaining over 7% on the week and the Corgi Lithography & Semiconductor Photonics ETF (EUV) jumping 13%
- S&P 500 Q2 earnings are on pace to grow 47%, which would mark the biggest quarterly earnings expansion since the post-Covid rebound in 2021, according to FactSet
- SpaceX shares stabilized and rallied despite the company's earnings report and the expiration of its first lockup period, amid a broader VIX decline to its lowest level since January
Why it matters: With 95th-percentile call open interest and a put/call ratio at its second-lowest reading ever, options positioning reveals near-uniform bullish conviction — but the 94,000 open puts at SPY's 760-strike create a concrete support floor 1.7% below Friday's close. Backed by 47% projected Q2 earnings growth (the strongest since 2021) and a VIX at January lows, the rally has both fundamental fuel and the technical positioning to sustain it into September as sidelined advisors return.
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