“Options Volatility Themes Across Tech: How Meta, SPCX Earnings Shape Trends” — watch on Schwab Network.
Brent Kochuba, founder of SpotGamma, joined Schwab Network at the New York Stock Exchange to walk through tech options positioning, the leverage amplifying single-stock moves, and what the options market is pricing into Meta and SPCX earnings.
As of Tuesday, the Nasdaq had fallen a little over 6% since October 6 and the Russell 2000 (IWM) was down roughly 11%, while the S&P 500 sat only about a percent from its all-time highs. Brent Kochuba, founder of SpotGamma, joined Schwab Network to explain why that spread looks more like a rotation than broad equity selling.
Rotation Looks Healthier Than Broad Selling
Broad de-risking usually looks different: selling that spreads across indices rather than concentrating in one, money moving into bonds or cash, and a larger jump in index volatility measures such as the VIX and VXN. Instead, the flows have favored sectors that lagged for most of the year, and leveraged ETFs and heavy single-stock options volume can exaggerate the moves in the names being sold.
Put Demand Has Not Broadened Across Tech
If investors feared a broader break, it would show up in the price of downside protection, and so far it mostly has not. Put skew — what traders pay for downside puts relative to upside calls — has shifted from call-weighted toward put-weighted, but there is little evidence of broad put buying across the large tech names. In Oracle the flow has leaned the other way, with put selling that usually reflects traders looking for support.
Earnings: Positioned For Stability, Not A Break
Into earnings, positioning in SpaceX (SPCX) and Tesla (TSLA) carried a large short-volatility component, suggesting the implied move priced into those events is modest and the market leans toward stability. Meta sits differently, with more concern about downside and steady call selling in the 750 to 800 area, which builds the kind of ceiling SpotGamma tracks as a Call Wall, where hedging against those short calls tends to slow a rally.
What Should Traders Watch For?
With downside protection priced lightly, the least-covered risk may be the right tail — a sudden sharp move higher. Over the past six months the market has jumped faster on up days than it has fallen on down days, and the last 3% session was a Nasdaq rally the day after Meta reported earnings. We encourage traders to watch whether Meta’s results pull money back toward the names investors just left, and whether put demand finally broadens across tech.
Watch the full segment on Schwab Network.
Brent Kochuba is the Founder of SpotGamma. He was previously a portfolio manager at Seven North Capital Management building options-based strategies, and a derivatives broker at Wolverine Execution, Credit Suisse and Bank of America.
Brent joins Schwab Network from the New York Stock Exchange for options and volatility coverage.