The market is buzzing about the "macro giant" betting big: an institution is aggressively buying "billions of dollars" in call options, involving major U.S. tech stocks

Mysterious options buyer bets big on US stocks rising, spending $3 billion.

According to Bloomberg, over the past month, institutional investors have steadily purchased a large number of call options on US stocks expiring in June 2027, spanning numerous large American companies. According to Nomura Securities, the total premium for these options trades is close to $3 billion.

The identity of this mysterious buyer has not yet been confirmed, but the consistency of their trading patterns suggests it could be the same party building a position, or other investors mimicking these trades.

In a report to clients on Wednesday, Nomura cross-asset strategist Charlie McElligott described this round of call option buying as "spectacular."

Key bets on tech giants, high option premiums

It is reported that the timing of these massive call option purchases coincides with the Nasdaq 100 index rising 24% since April 8, and they are concentrated on tech giants.

Nomura data shows that this options buyer spent $316 million on at-the-money call options for Amazon, $159 million on similar options for Salesforce, and an astonishing $878 million on Arm.

At-the-money call options have strike prices close to the market trading price level, which means if the stock price rises or volatility increases, the value of the options will also rise.

Notably, since these options have several years until expiration, their premiums are much higher than those of short-term contracts.

For example, the 2,200 contracts of ARM call options expiring in June 2027 with a strike price of $130 traded on Wednesday at a price of up to $47.40 per contract. Although the total premium for this trade reached $10.4 million, the trading volume accounted for only 0.2% of the overall options position.

Aiming to go long on volatility?

In this wave of option buying, the implied volatility of two-year options on the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) has risen to its highest level since January this year relative to the S&P 500 ETF (SPY).

Although short-term market volatility indicators have retreated after surging in early April, the 60-day volatility of QQQ and SPY remains at a high level not seen in nearly five years.

Chris Murphy, co-head of derivatives strategy at Susquehanna International Group, speculated that this buyer is "a well-funded global macro player with a long-term bullish outlook on the market, looking to profit from increased volatility by holding options."