Intel Corporation ended the session at $95.80, up 4.51%.

The equity rally was matched by unusually aggressive bullish options flow. A single $6.42 million deep in-the-money call purchase stood as the session’s dominant trade, while a separate $2.90 million net-debit out-of-the-money call combination added further upside exposure. Together, these orders outweighed scattered protective put activity, signaling a moderately bullish bias despite option pricing that remains relatively inexpensive versus the stock’s own recent volatility history.

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Options Indicators

INTC’s implied volatility is 63.84%, and with an IV percentile of 28.97%, current option pricing sits toward the lower end of its own historical volatility range. In other words, while the absolute IV level is not low in isolation, relative to where INTC options have typically traded, volatility is on the cheap side rather than elevated. The IV/HV ratio of 1.43 also shows implied volatility remains above realized volatility, indicating the market is still embedding a meaningful premium for future movement, but not at a historically expensive level. The Call/Put volume ratio is 2.22.

Large Trades

A CALL buy worth $6.42 million was the single largest displayed trade, with 1,860 contracts bought at the $80.00 strike expiring on 2028-01-21. With INTC referenced at $95.80, this call was in the money, making it a high-conviction bullish position with substantial intrinsic value already embedded. Strategically, this kind of long-dated in-the-money call purchase typically reflects a constructive directional view while using options to maintain upside exposure with less capital than outright stock ownership.

A directional CALL combination with a net debit of $2.90 million was the other highlighted large trade, consisting of simultaneous purchases of 11,935 $110.00 calls expiring on 2026-10-02 and 11,935 $110.00 calls expiring on 2026-09-18. Because both legs are call buys at the same strike across different expirations, this is a same-direction long call time-structure rather than a synthetic position, and its size should be read from the reported net debit of $2.90 million. With both strikes above the $95.80 stock reference, the position was established in out-of-the-money calls and signals a bullish directional bet that also leans into the possibility of a sizable upside move over time, rather than premium collection. Overall, the large-trade flow points to a moderately bullish bias in INTC: the most prominent orders were led by aggressive upside call buying, including a large in-the-money long-dated call and an additional debit-funded call structure aimed at further upside, which together outweigh the notable but secondary protective and bearish put activity seen elsewhere in the tape.

Strategy Reference

For a low-assignment-probability income approach despite the bullish tape, an short put seller could target the $75.00 strike expiring 30-45 days out, where IV percentile remains depressed and directional urgency is lower than the $80.00 deep ITM call buyer’s horizon; alternatively, a bull call spread using the $100.00/$110.00 strikes with the same front-month expiration would cap margin while still positioning for the upside signaled by the $2.90 million OTM call flow.