AbbVie Sees $2 Million in Bullish Call Activity as Stock Trades Near 52-Week Highs

By TrendSpider Editor

AbbVie Inc. is drawing attention in the options market Monday, with two unusually large call contracts totaling $2,055,276.80 in combined premium hitting the tape on the same $250 strike expiring this Friday, August 21. The activity arrives as ABBV trades at $250.66, up 0.44% on the session, positio

AbbVie Sees $2 Million in Bullish Call Activity as Stock Trades Near 52-Week Highs

AbbVie Inc. is drawing attention in the options market Monday, with two unusually large call contracts totaling $2,055,276.80 in combined premium hitting the tape on the same $250 strike expiring this Friday, August 21. The activity arrives as ABBV trades at $250.66, up 0.44% on the session, positioning the stock near the upper end of its 52-week range of $191.00 to $267.47. Both contracts are currently in the money, signaling that the buyers behind this flow are making a near-term directional bet with urgency.

Key Drivers of the ABBV Stock Move

• Main Catalyst: Two call contracts on the $250 strike expiring August 21 were flagged as unusual, with a combined size of 5,936 contracts and total premium of $2,055,276.80. The first contract carried a size of 1,936 against open interest of 16%, while the second and larger block reported a size of 4,000 contracts against open interest of 33%, suggesting meaningful accumulation relative to existing positioning.
• Bull Case: Both contracts are in the money with ABBV at $250.66, meaning the buyers carry intrinsic value from the moment of entry. The sheer size of the 4,000-contract block, representing the dominant portion of the $1,380,000 in premium on that leg alone, reflects conviction that the stock holds or extends gains through expiration on Friday.
• Bear Case: With expiration just four days away on August 21, time decay is working aggressively against these positions. ABBV would need to maintain current levels or push higher through the end of the week for these calls to deliver maximum value, and at $250.66, the stock is already deep into its 52-week range with limited room before testing the all-time high of $267.47.

The forward setup for ABBV into Friday's expiration is tight. The stock has logged a modest gain of 0.44% today but remains well off its 52-week high of $267.47, leaving a roughly 6.7% gap to that ceiling. The concentration of call flow on a single strike expiring at week's end suggests the options buyers are not positioning for a long-term move but rather anticipating a near-term catalyst or continuation of price momentum. With both contracts sitting in the money, any pullback below the $250 strike before Friday would begin to erode the value of these positions rapidly given the compressed time horizon.

ABBV Unusual Options Activity

• Contract 1: Call, $250 strike, expiring August 21, 2026 | Volume: 1,936 | Open Interest: 16% | Status: In the Money | Premium: $675,276.80
• Contract 2: Call, $250 strike, expiring August 21, 2026 | Volume: 4,000 | Open Interest: 33% | Status: In the Money | Premium: $1,380,000.00

Both contracts target the same $250 strike on the same expiration date, pointing to coordinated or highly directional positioning. The combined open interest readings of 16% and 33% indicate that these prints represent a substantial share of the existing open interest on this contract, adding to the significance of the flow. Total unusual premium across both contracts reached $2,055,276.80.

ABBV Seasonality

Mid-to-late August has historically represented a transitional period for large-cap pharmaceutical names as summer trading volume thins and investors begin positioning ahead of fall conference season and any pipeline updates. Short-dated options activity of this nature in the back half of August can sometimes precede or accompany news flow related to regulatory updates or clinical data readouts.

ABBV Relative Performance

ABBV is up 0.44% on the session at $250.66, sitting comfortably above the midpoint of its 52-week range of $191.00 to $267.47. The stock's current price reflects a recovery of more than 31% from its 52-week low, underscoring resilience in the name relative to broader healthcare sector volatility over the past year.