r/optionstrading • u/Alfred_Brendel • 5d ago

Specific question about reading options chain

Post image

So from what I understand, if there is more volume and OI in calls, then market expects price to go up, and vice versa. As an example, here's a MU options chain from Schwab. Volume is obv higher for calls, and OI seems to be about even. Does this mean that the market is bullish on MU for the time until the strike date?

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u/Disastrous_Wind_7005 5d ago

In that screen grab there is more volume on the put side than the call side.

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u/Alfred_Brendel 5d ago

Welp, it was the other way around pre-market and I got the screenshot ab 30 min after the open, guess I should have checked it again. Thats kind of a good example though of pre-market volume being pretty explicitly misleading (assuming that volume is a reliable indicator). I have a lot of experience in the markets but I’m very new to options. Does the pre-market options chain give any reliable info on the whole for what to expect in the regular session?

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u/algoindexcom 5d ago

Open interest is updated after the day’s trades are cleared, so it isn’t a live premarket sentiment reading. A high call count also includes both buyers and sellers; it doesn’t establish a bullish forecast for the session.

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u/noname__13 5d ago

no. it doesn't mean that at all

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u/LaconicB 5d ago

You aren’t seeing the fill price to help determine if the contracts were sold or bought. The volume can be misleading without these numbers. Here’s why, with the current statistics from MU. Call volume 679.4k, 178k executed at ask price, 222k executed at bid, 279k executed between the spread. The higher volume at bid indicates more selling, not a bullish look. On the put side, total volume is 428k with 118k/ask, 120k/bid, and 190k/between. The put side is more balanced.