Checking in on AAPL after the stock breached the $3 trillion market-cap threshold last week
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) started the year off with a bang, making waves on Wall Street after becoming the first U.S. company to rise above the $3 trillion market-cap level on the first trading day of 2022. The stock has cooled considerably since this milestone, however, as investor concerns over the tech sector weigh on the FAANG name. The stock was last seen down 1.7% to trade at $169.01, though this hasn't stopped options traders from targeting AAPL to the hilt.
The equity has, once again, topped Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White's list of names that have attracted the highest weekly options volume over the last two weeks. According to this list, 10,462,534 calls and 5,172,456 puts have exchanged hands. During this time period, the most popular position was the weekly 12/31 180-strike call, with the weekly 1/7 180-strike call trailing behind.
Options traders continue to target AAPL at a customarily high volume during today's trading, with 620,000 calls and 380,000 puts exchanged, which is roughly in line with what's typically seen at this point. The most popular position is the weekly 1/14 170-strike call, followed by the 175-strike call in the same series, with positions being opened at both.
Though calls continue to rule the roost, short-term options players have rarely been more put-biased in the past year. This is per AAPL's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.07, which stands higher than 99% of readings from its annual range.
As we previously mentioned, AAPL has been selling off since last week's peak. The stock fell back below its formerly supportive 20-day moving average just one session after it hit a record high of $182.94 on Jan. 4. The equity is now down 4.7% year-to-date, though it sports a 12-month lead of 28.1%.
