18 August 2026 — EOD read. Here is what printed on today’s tape, what the flow said, and what last session’s flagged prints did in this morning’s open-interest update.
- Tech led the market lower: QQQ -1.69%, SPY -0.68%, VIX up to 15.84.
- Index put sweeps dominated the flow; yesterday’s SPY and IWM put flags confirmed as new OI.
- NVDA closed -2.3% at $219.74 with earnings due 26 August after the close.
What happened
A tech-led down day. SPY closed $767.45, -0.68% from Monday’s $772.67, with a session low of $766.92. QQQ underperformed hard, closing $717.51, -1.69% from $729.87, low $715.92. VIX lifted from 15.19 to 15.84 — still a low-teens print, but the first push higher after the recent grind down. NVDA lost 2.3% to $219.74 with the 26 August report eight days out.
The flow skewed defensive and did so unevenly. SPY ran 5.79M puts against 4.08M calls — a 1.42 put/call — with $1.21B in put premium versus $628M in calls. QQQ ran 4.12M puts against 3.63M calls, a 1.14 put/call. Market-wide the tape was calmer than the index prints suggest: 31.4M calls to 26.9M puts (0.86 put/call), $20.0B call premium versus $15.9B put premium. The hedging pressure concentrated in the index complex, not the single-name tape.
Yesterday’s radar — OI confirm
Yesterday’s flagged prints, checked against this morning’s open-interest update — the tape’s own answer to whether the flow was real positioning. Thresholds: ≥40% of flagged volume became new OI = confirmed; 10–40% = partial; under 10% = not confirmed.
| Contract | Flagged | OI change overnight | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPY Aug 28 $750 puts | 17,180 volume | +15,651 (91%) | Confirmed opening |
| IWM Sep $289 puts | 42,522 volume | +41,242 (97%) | Confirmed opening |
| NVDA Sep $230 puts | 3,250 volume | +1,167 (36%) | Partially confirmed |
| NVDA Sep $220 puts | 4,392 volume | +1,630 (37%) | Partially confirmed |
| TLT Aug $85 puts | 13,013 volume | -36 (OI fell) | Not confirmed |
| SNDK Aug $1,800 calls | 13,903 volume | +873 (6%) | Not confirmed |
| MU Aug $1,000 calls | 11,887 volume | -999 (OI fell) | Not confirmed |
| NBIS Feb 2027 $250 puts | 313 volume | +286 (91%) | Confirmed opening |
| PLTR Dec 2027 $185 calls | 3,159 volume | +3,040 (96%) | Confirmed opening |
The index and long-dated hedges were real; the short-dated semiconductor chase was not.
Why it matters
Today’s tape validated yesterday’s defensive prints almost immediately: the SPY $750 puts and IWM $289 puts that confirmed as new open interest this morning were followed by a red session and fresh put sweeps at nearby strikes — 12,000 IWM Sep $288 puts swept ask-side ($2.8M) and a 4,940-lot QQQ $717 put cluster ran 93x its open interest into the close. Our read: the index hedge build is the dominant tell on this tape, and it is now a two-day pattern, not a one-off print.
The contrast inside semis is equally informative. The OI update showed the SNDK $1,800 and MU $1,000 call volume from yesterday did not become positioning — same-day traffic, not conviction — while today MU printed $2.8M of ask-side $935 calls alongside two $711M prior-reference stock blocks at $940.76 and SNDK saw ask-side puts at $1,840/$1,850. What printed as a momentum chase yesterday is printing as two-way distribution today.
What to watch into Wednesday
- SPY $766.92 — today’s low, the level to watch. A close below would mark a second consecutive lower low; $772.67, Monday’s close, is the reference on the other side.
- QQQ $715.92 — today’s low. QQQ underperformed SPY by a full point of percentage; a stabilization of that spread would mark the tech-led pressure easing, a widening would extend it.
- VIX 15.84 — first lift off the lows; the 16–17 zone is where the recent compression started, and a print back inside it would mark a regime of cheaper-vol-no-more.
- NVDA $218.69 — today’s low, with earnings 26 August postmarket. The Sep put confirmations were partial, not full; the Dec 2028 $300 call print reads as long-horizon, not an earnings position.
- IWM $288–289 — the put strike zone now flagged two sessions running and 97% OI-confirmed. Tomorrow’s OI update on the $288s tells us whether the small-cap hedge is still growing.
- MU $940.76 — the prior-reference block price. Where the stock trades relative to that print is the cleanest marker of whether the block buyer or seller has the tape.
Names on our radar
Every row below is frozen at publication and scored mechanically in the Accountability Ledger at +5 and +21 sessions — misses stay on the page. Options prints are checked against the next morning’s open-interest update in the following session’s post.
| Ticker | What printed | Read |
|---|---|---|
| QQQ | Aug 19 $717 puts — 4,940-lot ask-side sweep cluster, ~$1.3M, 93x vol/OI | Short-dated downside demand right at the close price; expiry is tomorrow, so the OI check is the whole story. |
| IWM | Sep $288 puts — 12,000 swept ask-side, $2.8M, 5.7x vol/OI | Second consecutive session of size in this strike zone; yesterday’s $289s confirmed 97%. |
| SNDK | Aug $1,850 puts — $2.2M ask-side, repeated hits | Downside prints appearing after yesterday’s call chase failed to become OI; two-way tape now. |
| MU | Aug $935 calls — $2.8M ask-side, 6.2x vol/OI | Near-the-money call demand against $1.4B of prior-reference stock blocks at $940.76. |
| MRVL | Dec $230 puts — $2.2M bid-side | Bid-side put prints read as premium supplied, not bought, into the 27 August report. |
| GLW | Sep 2027 $200 calls — $3.1M, 34x vol/OI, ascending fills | Long-dated upside accumulation far above spot ($160); the OI update is the confirmation test. |
| NVDA | Dec 2028 $300 calls — $1.3M, ascending fills | Multi-year upside interest printed into a -2.3% session, eight days ahead of earnings. |
| CIFR | Dec $15 puts — $1.5M ask-side, ascending fills | Persistent downside demand in the miner; strike sits below spot ($16.20). |
| MSFT | Dark pool: ~$2.0B in average-price blocks at $481.63 | Largest off-exchange prints of the day; average-price prints mark institutional repositioning, direction unknowable from the tape alone. |
The set-up
The composite still scores this tape a 71 — Bull regime, keyed off Monday’s close — but the last two sessions have printed a consistent sequence: index put hedges that confirm as real open interest, a tech tape that underperforms, and short-dated single-name chases that evaporate in the next morning’s OI update. That is what a bull tape absorbing a hedging wave looks like. The observation that matters most into Wednesday is whether the IWM and QQQ put builds keep confirming — a third consecutive confirmed hedge build would mark this as a durable positioning shift rather than a two-day flurry.
Method note
Flow and dark-pool data sourced from Unusual Whales. MPI score and regime classifier are our internal composite; daily synthesis is AI-assisted from those inputs. Volume-over-OI activity is unconfirmed as new positioning until the next morning’s open-interest update; confirmations are published in the following session’s post. Index prints in the strip are frozen at today’s close; the MPI value is keyed off the 17 August close as labeled.
This is research, not advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security.
AZTMM HLDGS LLC is not a registered broker-dealer, investment adviser, or FINRA member. All content is retrospective research published for general circulation — not personalized advice, not trade signals. Options involve substantial risk, including losses that may exceed the initial investment. Full disclaimer.
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