NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) is witnessing a surge of option activity that mirrors investors’ conviction in the company’s dominant market standing and relentless product innovation. Roughly $17 million in sweep orders has poured into the deep-in-the-money $100 calls that expire at the end of May. Because those trades represent most of today’s open-interest turnover in that contract, the flow paints a possible bullish picture.
Volume and Open Interest
Daily trading activity for 100-strike end-of-May expiration flipped from quiet to explosive. Volumes were negligible through the 15th of May (e.g., just 342 contracts on 14 May) and still muted on the 16th of May (268 contracts), but surged to 41,054 contracts today. Today’s volume accounted for 94% of existing OI in a single session.
Because OI rose slightly even after that burst, the data implies that a meaningful portion of today’s prints were new, opening positions rather than simple closing trades. Meanwhile the contract price has hovered in a tight band, slipping from $35.70 on the 14th of May to $35.50 today. Simultaneously, implied volatility crept up to 87.3 %. In short, traders unleashed a wave of fresh bullish exposure on the 19th of May, taking volume almost one-for-one with open interest.
Trade Side Distribution
The trade-side breakdown for the NVDA $100 calls expiring 30 May 2025 shows that nearly half of all premium—about $48 million, or 44%—changed hands below the quoted bid. Such concentration signals sizable negotiated block prints or liquidity-seeking sellers willing to price beneath screens. Still, demand is evident: a meaningful $29.6 million (27%) executed at the ask, pointing to buyers aggressively lifting offers, while a further $5.9 million (5%) printed near the mid-market. By contrast, bid-side executions totaled $24.6 million (23%), and virtually nothing traded above the ask.
Altogether, the flow skews slightly bullish when comparing ask-side to bid-side ($29.6M vs. $24.6M), yet the dominance of “below-bid” trades suggests that a large liquidity provider—or hedger—was simultaneously unloading inventory, creating a mixed but active market for these deep-in-the-money calls.
More Notable Options Trades Observed
Fresh upside interest also showed up in the NVDA $115 calls expiring 20 June, where buyers paid the ask and laid out roughly $5.5 million in premium. The print reinforces the view that near to medium-term sentiment on NVIDIA remains decisively bullish.
What’s Happening with NVDA
Nvidia’s rally over the last five trading days comes from a potent mix of disappearing head-winds and fresh growth catalysts. First, Washington’s decision on the 13th May to scrap the “AI diffusion rule” lifts looming limits on exporting advanced AI chips, immediately expanding Nvidia’s addressable market and removing a regulatory overhang that had dogged the stock for months.
Second, big customers’ budgets and channel checks indicate Blackwell-generation GPUs are already sold out for the year, fueling expectations of another blockbuster quarter when Nvidia reports on the 28th of May. Anticipation of those results—paired with Wall-Street’s still-rising consensus target and “Strong Buy” rating—has drawn momentum buyers into the name.
About NVDA
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) is a leading American technology company based in Santa Clara, California, best known for designing and developing high-end graphics processing units (GPUs) that power everything from gaming PCs to data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Originally founded in 1993 as a GPU innovator for computer graphics and gaming, NVIDIA has since expanded its product portfolio to include chips and systems for autonomous vehicles, robotics, professional visualization, and high-performance computing.
The company’s technology is essential for compute-intensive applications such as AI, machine learning, video processing, and digital twins, and it serves a wide range of industries including healthcare, automotive, financial services, and telecommunications. Today, NVIDIA holds a dominant share of the global GPU market and is recognized as a pioneer in accelerated computing and AI hardware and software solutions.
Analyst Ratings
| Analyst/Firm | Rating/Recommendation | Date Updated |
|---|---|---|
| CFRA | ★★★★ | 05/18/2025 |
| Market Edge | LONG | 05/16/2025 |
| Argus | BUY | 04/17/2025 |
| Morningstar | ★★★ | 04/16/2025 |
| LSEG | OUTPERFORM | 05/16/2025 |
| Schwab Equity Ratings | B | 05/19/2025 |
NVIDIA (NVDA) currently enjoys broadly positive analyst sentiment, as reflected in the latest ratings from several major research firms. CFRA assigns NVDA a strong four-star rating, indicating high confidence in the stock. Market Edge has upgraded its outlook to “Long,” suggesting a bullish stance, while Argus rates NVDA as a “Buy.”
Morningstar provides a moderate three-star rating, signaling a fair valuation. LSEG (formerly Refinitiv) rates the stock as “Outperform,” and Schwab Equity Ratings gives it a “B,” which is above average. Overall, the consensus among analysts is favorable, with most firms recommending either buying or holding NVDA shares.
