Walmart Stock Sees Massive $1.3M Call Sweep as Shares Trade Near Midpoint of 52-Week Range

By TrendSpider Editor

Unusual options activity in Walmart Inc. flagged two notable contracts on Friday, July 10, with a dominant bullish call sweep of $1,318,050 in premium pointing toward upside expectations heading into late July. WMT shares rose 1.52% to $113.91 on the session, sitting near the midpoint of its 52-week

Walmart Stock Sees Massive $1.3M Call Sweep as Shares Trade Near Midpoint of 52-Week Range

Unusual options activity in Walmart Inc. flagged two notable contracts on Friday, July 10, with a dominant bullish call sweep of $1,318,050 in premium pointing toward upside expectations heading into late July. WMT shares rose 1.52% to $113.91 on the session, sitting near the midpoint of its 52-week range of $94.23 to $135.155. The total unusual premium across both contracts came to $1,385,000, with calls accounting for the overwhelming majority of that flow.

Key Drivers of the WMT Stock Move

• Main Catalyst: Two unusual options contracts were flagged in WMT today, highlighted by a call contract at the $115 strike expiring July 24, 2026, with a volume of 8,787 contracts and open interest utilization of 40%. The contract carried $1,318,050 in premium, making it the dominant signal in today's flow. A smaller put contract at the $112 strike expiring July 17, 2026 added $66,950 in premium with a size of 515 contracts and 42% OI usage.
• Bull Case: The $115 call sweep is out of the money relative to the current price of $113.91, meaning options traders are paying meaningful premium to position for a move above $115 before July 24. The $1,318,050 deployed in a single call contract represents a concentrated, high-conviction bet on near-term upside, and today's 1.52% price gain suggests positive momentum is already building.
• Bear Case: The $112 put expiring July 17 is essentially at the money given current levels, with 42% open interest utilization on 515 contracts. While small relative to the call flow, the presence of near-term downside protection within one week of expiry suggests at least some institutional hedging activity is occurring. WMT is also trading well below its 52-week high of $135.155, meaning overhead resistance could limit any sustained breakout.

The forward setup for WMT is constructive in the near term given the weight of the options flow. The $115 call strike expiring July 24 gives traders roughly two weeks for the trade to pay off, a tight window that implies expectations for a swift catalyst or continued price momentum. With WMT currently at $113.91, a move above $115 would represent a roughly 1% gain from current levels, which is not a dramatic hurdle but does require follow-through from today's session. Walmart's positioning as a defensive consumer staples giant tends to attract institutional attention during periods of broader market uncertainty, and the scale of premium deployed in this single call contract suggests smart money may be anticipating a specific near-term event or continuation of today's positive price action.

WMT Unusual Options Activity

Two unusual contracts were flagged in WMT on July 10, 2026, totaling $1,385,000 in combined premium across a put and a call:

• Call: $115 strike | Expiry: July 24, 2026 | Volume: 8,787 | Open Interest Utilization: 40% | Premium: $1,318,050 | Moneyness: Out of the money
• Put: $112 strike | Expiry: July 17, 2026 | Volume: 515 | Open Interest Utilization: 42% | Premium: $66,950 | Moneyness: At the money

The call contract dwarfs the put in both size and premium, pushing the overall tone of today's unusual flow decidedly bullish. The put contract's July 17 expiration is notably tight, expiring just one week out, which frames it more as a short-term hedge than a directional bearish bet.

WMT Seasonality

Mid-July has historically been an active period for retail sector options flow as traders position ahead of summer earnings season, with Walmart typically reporting its fiscal second-quarter results in mid-to-late August. The two-week window on the dominant call contract aligns with a period when early positioning ahead of earnings expectations often begins to build momentum.

WMT Relative Performance

WMT gained 1.52% on July 10, 2026, closing at $113.91. The stock remains approximately 15.7% below its 52-week high of $135.155 but has recovered meaningfully from its 52-week low of $94.23, representing a gain of roughly 20.9% from that trough. The current price level places WMT in the lower half of its annual range, suggesting room for recovery if bullish options traders are correct in their near-term directional call.