OPTIONS FLOW$AMZNAmazon.Com IncOpen ticker analysis →
$41.55M moved through Amazon.Com Inc ($AMZN) options on Friday in a 2-leg trade built around the $260 to $275 strikes. The legs lean bearish: the bought side profits as Amazon.Com falls, and the sold side helps pay for it.
What happened
The legs printed together midday, around 12:40 p.m. ET on Friday, October 9, with $AMZN near $261.39, for $41.55M in combined premium across 49,816 contracts.
Trading the legs as one ticket locks in the price of the whole structure at once, which is how professional desks usually put on spreads.
Netting the legs, the trader collected about $14.8M up front. That credit is theirs to keep if the stock cooperates, but it comes with obligations on the sold side.
- AMZN Oct 30 $275 Call: 24,908 contracts at $5.37 (bought)
- AMZN Oct 30 $260 Call: 24,908 contracts at $11.31 (sold)
Why it matters
A vertical call spread buys one strike and sells another in the same expiration. It caps both the cost and the payoff, so the trader has picked a target zone and a maximum loss in advance.
Net of all legs, the structure behaves like being short roughly 546,400 shares of AMZN, about $142.83M of stock exposure.
The strikes run from $260.00 (0.5% below the stock) to $275.00 (5.2% above the stock), so the trade is built around a zone rather than a single target.
With 21 days until Oct 30, the trade has a few weeks to be right, enough room for a catalyst but not much for waiting. Implied volatility sat near 41%, a middle-of-the-road price for movement.
Over the last 12 sessions $AMZN has traded between $244.73 and $261.64 and is up 5.2% over that stretch. The stock came into this trade near the top of that range.
The numbers
| Structure | Vertical call spread (2 legs) |
|---|---|
| Lean | Bearish |
| Expirations | Oct 30 (nearest in 21 days) |
| Strikes | $260, $275 |
| Contracts | 49,816 |
| Total premium | $41.55M |
| Net cost | $14.8M credit |
| Stock at the trade | $261.39 |
Three ways this could play out
Bullish continuation
A move through $275.00 puts $AMZN above every strike. For a structure leaning bearish, that is the worst case.
Bearish rejection
A drop under $260.00 takes $AMZN below every strike. That is where this bearish structure pays the most.
Neutral stabilization
If $AMZN settles between $260.00 and $275.00 into Oct 30, time decay and the final price decide who wins, which is exactly what spreads are built to control.
What to watch next
- $260.00 and $275.00: the outer strikes that define this trade.
- Open interest on each leg in the next session, to confirm the structure was opened rather than closed.
- Oct 30: expiration, 21 days out for the nearest leg, when the structure resolves.
- Follow-on spreads at nearby strikes, which would show a desk building a larger position.
- $244.73 and $261.64: the edges of AMZN’s recent trading range.
