QCOM Stock: Unusual Options Activity Flags Bearish Positioning as Shares Hover Near 52-Week Lows
By TrendSpider Editor
Unusual options activity in QUALCOMM Incorporated is drawing attention Thursday, with five notable contracts spanning both puts and calls and a combined total premium of $3,015,835.30. QCOM shares are trading at $130.74, up just 0.30% on the session, but the stock remains under significant pressure
QCOM Stock: Unusual Options Activity Flags Bearish Positioning as Shares Hover Near 52-Week Lows
Unusual options activity in QUALCOMM Incorporated is drawing attention Thursday, with five notable contracts spanning both puts and calls and a combined total premium of $3,015,835.30. QCOM shares are trading at $130.74, up just 0.30% on the session, but the stock remains under significant pressure relative to its 52-week high of $205.55. With the current price sitting just above its 52-week low of $120.80, the options flow suggests traders are actively positioning around the question of whether that floor holds.
Key Drivers of the QCOM Stock Move
- Main Catalyst: Five unusual options contracts were flagged today totaling $3,015,835.30 in premium, with four of those contracts being puts and only one being a call. The largest single contract is a PUT at the $125 strike expiring January 15, 2027, with a size of 1,500 and a premium of $2,137,500, representing 60% of existing open interest at that strike.
- Bull Case: The lone call contract, a CALL at the $140 strike expiring April 17, 2026, with a size of 1,250 and a premium of $171,250, indicates some traders are betting on a near-term recovery of roughly 7% from current levels. A move to $140 would mark a meaningful bounce off the lows.
- Bear Case: The put-heavy flow is difficult to ignore. The PUT at the $128 strike expiring April 17, 2026 carries an open interest ratio of 1,407%, meaning volume on that contract is running at more than 14 times existing open interest, a classic signal of fresh and aggressive bearish positioning. Combined with the large January 2027 put block, the dominant theme in today's options activity is downside protection or outright bearish speculation near the 52-week low.
The forward setup for QCOM is challenging. The stock is trading approximately 36% below its 52-week high of $205.55 and is just $9.94 above its 52-week low of $120.80, leaving very little cushion before key technical support is tested in a meaningful way. The concentration of put strikes at $125, $115, and $110 suggests that options traders are mapping out scenarios where that low breaks. The April 17 expiration on both the $128 put and the $140 call creates a near-term binary around the next few weeks, making price action heading into mid-April particularly important to watch. Broader semiconductor sector headwinds, including concerns around AI chip competition and licensing revenue sustainability, continue to weigh on sentiment around the name.
QCOM Unusual Options Activity
- Contract 1: PUT, $125 strike, expiring January 15, 2027 | Size: 1,500 | Open Interest %: 60% | Status: OTM
- Contract 2: PUT, $110 strike, expiring November 20, 2026 | Size: 42 | Open Interest %: 323% | Status: OTM
- Contract 3: PUT, $115 strike, expiring January 15, 2027 | Size: 600 | Open Interest %: 36% | Status: OTM
- Contract 4: PUT, $128 strike, expiring April 17, 2026 | Size: 197 | Open Interest %: 1,407% | Status: OTM
- Contract 5: CALL, $140 strike, expiring April 17, 2026 | Size: 1,250 | Open Interest %: 20% | Status: OTM
All five contracts are out of the money. The put-to-call ratio by contract count is 4 to 1, and puts account for the vast majority of total premium spent. The $128 put's open interest ratio of 1,407% stands out as the most aggressive signal of new positioning in today's flow.
QCOM Seasonality
Late March and early April have historically represented a transitional period for semiconductor stocks as investors begin to look ahead to first-quarter earnings results and forward guidance. For QCOM specifically, options activity concentrated around the April 17 expiration suggests traders are pricing in a catalyst or volatility event within the next three weeks.
QCOM Relative Performance
QCOM's 0.30% gain on Thursday is a modest positive in isolation, but the stock's position near the bottom of its 52-week range of $120.80 to $205.55 tells a more sobering story. Trading at $130.74, QCOM is sitting approximately 8% above its annual low and roughly 36% below its annual high, underperforming the broader semiconductor peer group that has largely recovered from earlier 2025 drawdowns. The clustering of bearish options strikes well below the current price reflects a market that is not yet convinced the worst is behind this name.