Alpha Flow
$28M FBIN Risk Reversal Leads a Split Tape; Quantum Names Load Bullish Bets
Monday, April 06, 2026 | Alpha Pod
Executive Summary
Friday’s session tilted nominally bullish across all 11 sectors, but the signal was shallow — put-selling drove the lean in eight of them, making this a premium-collection session rather than a conviction call. Basic Materials and Financial Services were the only sectors with genuine call buying, anchored by FBIN’s $28.4M structured flow (May 15) and CRCL’s layered LEAPS overwrite. Energy told the most coherent directional story despite being the weakest sector at 56% bull: actual call buying in XOM and CVX drove the lean, not passive put-selling. Homebuilders & Housing was the lone bearish theme, with HD and RKT put buying consistent with macro anxiety around rates.
The session’s most interesting trades: FBIN built a massive synthetic long or collar with 88K $35 puts and 71K $40 calls (May 15), $28.4M combined, from virtually zero prior OI — a block-driven positioning event in a mid-cap name. RGTI saw $6.2M in $14 puts sold (Jul 17) right at the money in just 11 block trades, a high-conviction short-vol bet on quantum computing. NVDA’s $150/$195 short strangle (May 1) collected $13.6M while call-writing at $177.50/$182.50 (Apr 10) capped another $18.8M through this week — textbook income positioning, not a directional bet.
SPY closed Friday at $655.83, and the dominant positioning story is $86.7M in structured put spreads targeting the $620-$640 zone — a 55.7K $640/$620 spread (Apr 14) and a 56.9K $640/$625 spread (Apr 10). Direction is uncertain on both, but $640 is the gravitational center with 120K+ combined put OI across this week and next. The only clean directional trade: $622 puts bought (Apr 10), a small but targeted bet on a 5% drawdown by Friday. Upside is capped at $666 by call-selling (Apr 17), and further out, an 8.0K $605/$580 put spread (Apr 24) provides tail protection targeting an 8-11% decline.
Unusual Flow
CVNA -- $8.5M in premium across 410 contracts, with $400 calls bought (+746, May 15) targeting a 30% move higher, while $290 puts sold (+2.0K, Apr 10) and $350 calls sold (+2.1K, Apr 10) frame a short-dated income collar around the position. Heavily bullish positioning ahead of April 29 earnings.
AXTI -- $7.3M in call-dominated flow, led by $60 calls bought (+6.6K, May 15) -- a 15% upside target from Friday’s close. The $105 calls sold (+537, Jan 2027) suggest longer-dated premium collection funding the near-term bet; one of the largest single-name semiconductor signals outside the top 10.
WDC -- $5M in overwhelmingly bullish activity with $325 calls bought (+596, May 8) and $280 puts sold (+965, Apr 10) into earnings on April 29. Storage/memory positioning runs parallel to the broader tech call-buying theme visible in top-10 names like NVDA.
SYF -- $3.1M in structured put flow with a bearish bias, concentrated in $65 puts (+10.0K, May 15) and $60 puts (+9.9K, May 15) -- nearly 20K contracts opened in a single session ahead of April 21 earnings. One of the most overwhelmingly defensive prints on the board, cutting against the otherwise bullish Financial Services lean.
OXY -- Heavy call selling across multiple expirations: $67.50 calls sold (+9.6K, Sep 18), $67 calls sold (+6.1K, May 1), and $75 calls sold (+4.3K, May 15). Nearly $4M in premium collected, capping upside through the summer. Consistent with Energy being the weakest sector in Friday’s flow.
BMNR -- $4.6M in clean call buying spread across $24 calls bought (+8.3K, May 15), $24 calls bought (+5.1K, Jun 18), and $27 calls bought (+3.4K, Apr 17). Over 63K net OI added, with the bulk targeting ~20% upside from $20.15 -- conviction spread across three expirations.
AVTX -- $4.7M in structured flow with a bullish bias, built around the $15 strike in May: $15 puts (+3.0K, May 15) and $15 calls (+2.8K, May 15) paired with $22.50 calls (+2.8K, May 15). Near-unanimous bullish conviction in a small-cap biotech name with earnings May 11.
