OPTIONS FLOW$QCOMQualcomm IncOpen ticker analysis →
$3.46M moved through Qualcomm Inc ($QCOM) options on Friday in a 2-leg trade built around the $205 to $225 strikes. The legs lean bearish: the bought side profits as Qualcomm falls, and the sold side helps pay for it.
What happened
The legs printed together in the final half hour, around 4:00 p.m. ET on Friday, September 25, with $QCOM near $202.01, for $3.46M in combined premium across 6,000 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 $1.8M up front. That credit is theirs to keep if the stock cooperates, but it comes with obligations on the sold side.
- QCOM Oct 16 $205 Call: 3,000 contracts at $8.76 (sold)
- QCOM Oct 16 $225 Call: 3,000 contracts at $2.76 (bought)
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 84,000 shares of QCOM, about $16.98M of stock exposure.
The strikes run from $205.00 (1.5% above the stock) to $225.00 (11.4% above the stock), so the trade is built around a zone rather than a single target.
With 20 days until Oct 16, the trade has a few weeks to be right, enough room for a catalyst but not much for waiting. Implied volatility ran around 50%, elevated, which means traders are paying up for movement.
The numbers
| Structure | Vertical call spread (2 legs) |
|---|---|
| Lean | Bearish |
| Expirations | Oct 16 (nearest in 20 days) |
| Strikes | $205, $225 |
| Contracts | 6,000 |
| Total premium | $3.46M |
| Net cost | $1.8M credit |
| Stock at the trade | $202.01 |
Three ways this could play out
Bullish continuation
A move through $225.00 puts $QCOM above every strike. For a structure leaning bearish, that is the worst case.
Bearish rejection
A drop under $205.00 takes $QCOM below every strike. That is where this bearish structure pays the most.
Neutral stabilization
If $QCOM settles between $205.00 and $225.00 into Oct 16, time decay and the final price decide who wins, which is exactly what spreads are built to control.
What to watch next
- $205.00 and $225.00: 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 16: expiration, 20 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.
