They were buying calls like crazy.
Last week, I mentioned an unusual move in a big-name stock, CMG.
The ticker had just taken a hit. It wasn’t acting particularly strong. The chart didn’t scream “breakout.” But then something strange showed up…
Massive call buying.
And not just your run-of-the-mill retail speculation. This was targeted, aggressive positioning that suggested someone knew — or strongly believed — that a move was coming.
So I flagged it.
And sure enough, this week… the stock exploded.
Now, the point of this isn’t to pat myself on the back. The point is: this kind of setup happens more often than you think.
Big players — hedge funds, institutions, smart money — they don’t usually wait for confirmation. They move early. Quietly. And sometimes, if you know what to look for, they leave behind footprints.
In this case, it was a stock trading weakly while big call buying rolled in. That mismatch — weak price action vs. bullish options flow — tipped the hand.
This is one of the key things I look for in what I call “environmental context.”
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What’s the stock doing?
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What’s the flow doing?
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What’s the market structure telling us?
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And how does all of that line up with sentiment?
Because, like I said on Mapping the Market, the market right now isn’t necessarily strong… but it’s tradable.
We’re seeing this slow S&P drift while individual names still offer plenty of opportunity — if you know where to look.
So next time you see unusual call flow on a weak chart… don’t ignore it. It might just be smart money getting ahead of the next move.
I just covered this and more in my free bi-weekly Mapping the Market session:
Watch the full episode here!
And don’t forget to register here to be notified every time I’m going live.
See you in the markets,
— Nate Tucci
