Two trades that just happened in 'Magnificent Seven' stocks point to big gains ahead

Options traders are leaning bullish on two “Magnificent Seven” names—Alphabet and Microsoft—as the Nasdaq sits less than 1% from all-time highs. The bets came after economic data released earlier in the day beat expectations, including a softer inflation print, with equities holding gains even as bond prices eased later. In Alphabet, call volume was more than double put trading, with just under 150,000 calls initiated by buyers versus fewer than 100,000 calls sold and about 50,000 puts bought, according to options flow data cited from Cboe LiveVol, SpotGamma and Barchart. By midday Wednesday, more than $260 million in premium traded, including over $200 million tied to calls. The biggest buy was for in-the-money 250-strike calls expiring next June in GOOGL. For Microsoft, traders likely bought more than 130,000 calls, with total options volume around $500 million and premium heavily call-weighted.