Options Action: Apple’s record run ignites options flurry — watch on CNBC.
Brent Kochuba, founder of SpotGamma, joined Options Action on CNBC to explain why Nvidia options have rarely been priced this richly into earnings, and why Apple’s options have gone quiet at the same time.
The S&P 500 bounced about 100 points after the previous session’s bond-driven sell-off, helped by a 25% post-earnings rally in CoreWeave that pulled much of the AI complex up with it. Underneath that rebound, the options on two of the largest stocks in the index are priced in opposite directions, and Brent Kochuba walked through both.
Nvidia Options Carry A Pre-Earnings Tax
Nvidia’s implied volatility — the price the options market puts on movement still to come — sat near 70% earlier in the week, against a stock that regularly traded closer to 35% before this autumn. Its IV rank now sits around 100, meaning options have rarely been more expensive relative to anything in the past year. Put skew, the extra premium paid for downside puts over comparable upside calls, stretches well above its own historical range. The session before the segment carried the second-highest put volume in the stock since January 2025. Buying puts to bet against Nvidia at these levels means a trader needs a large move simply to cover what the protection costs.
Selling The Event, Owning December
Whatever the earnings number turns out to be, premium attached to a scheduled catalyst tends to deflate once the catalyst passes — the IV crush that follows most events. Three of them clear inside a single week for Nvidia: the earnings report, monthly options expiration, and a possible congressional appearance. Brent walked through a call calendar spread built around that congestion, selling the November 20 200-strike call for roughly $1.75 and using the proceeds to buy the December 200 call for about $2.00. If the near-dated call expires worthless, the December call remains on at close to no net cost, which carries upside exposure into a shortened Thanksgiving week where decay accelerates and volatility can compress further.
Apple Trades More Like A Bond
Apple’s options tell the opposite story, and the reason sits in how investors hold the stock. Many own it as a core position and systematically sell calls against it for income, and that steady supply leaves dealers holding billions of dollars of positive gamma across the strikes. Positive gamma means their hedging leans against a price move rather than with it: they sell into rallies and buy dips, which dampens how far the stock travels. Implied volatility near 24% is the result, with call skew compressed almost flat against its own history while Nvidia’s remains stretched. Brent sees Apple as a stabilizer within a portfolio rather than a way to beat the index, since the same selling that holds its volatility down also limits how far it can run.
Consumer Premium Is Elevated Too
Expensive options span beyond just AI names. Both XLY and XLP carry unusually rich volatility into the next two weeks, with Home Depot, TJX, Lowe’s, Target, Walmart and Disney all reporting inside that window. IV ranks across several of those names sit around 80 to 90, which is uncommon for large retailers heading into results, and the midterm elections together with last week’s quick jump in rates likely account for part of it.
What Would Confirm The Read?
We encourage traders to watch two things into the end of the month: whether Nvidia’s implied volatility compresses toward the stock’s actual movement once earnings and expiration are behind it, and whether the steady call selling that holds Apple’s volatility down persists if the AI complex stays unsettled. A widening of put skew in Apple would be an early sign that the second part has changed.
Brent Kochuba founded SpotGamma and appears on CNBC. 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.
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