While the spot market remains calm, approximately 70% of short-selling activities are bypassing public markets, frequently trading in dark pools and aggressively sweeping up short-term options.
In the combined futures and options data from the CFTC for August 18, the net long positions of Managed Money increased by 3,986 contracts compared to the previous week.
Option traders expect Microsoft's market capitalization to fluctuate by approximately $190 billion following its Q4 earnings announcement, with related options indicating a potential upside of about 6.6%.
On July 28, 2026, Jiang Dong, head of Xiaohongshu's in-house media intelligence team, publicly posted a detailed account of how the company unilaterally terminated his labor contract with only 8 days left before his stock options expired, and how he filed for arbitration and litigation, openly questioning the company's option management mechanism.
New Federal Reserve Chair Warsh made his debut last Wednesday, announcing the removal of the interest-rate roadmap forward guidance and the free put-option backstop insurance, and reclaiming operational autonomy.
Wall Street market maker SIG filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York court in Manhattan, taking 100 mysterious accounts that had profited enormously by buying put options in advance with precision to court, and the judge issued a freezing order the same day.
As Futu rebounded and swung intraday, attracting retail investors to buy the dip, the options monitoring system captured extreme put sweeps on Futu and Taige at 9:57 a.m.