OPTIONS FLOW$TSLATesla, Inc.Open ticker analysis →
$26.21M moved through Tesla, Inc. ($TSLA) options on Thursday in a 2-leg trade built around the $300 to $700 strikes. The legs lean bearish: the bought side profits as Tesla falls, and the sold side helps pay for it.
What happened
The legs printed together in the final half hour, around 3:45 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 1, with $TSLA near $357.56, for $26.21M 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 paid about $3.55M to put the position on. The sold legs mean the risk does not stop at that debit if the stock moves hard against them.
- TSLA Dec 15, 2028 $700 Call: 3,000 contracts at $37.76 (sold)
- TSLA Dec 15, 2028 $300 Put: 3,000 contracts at $49.60 (bought)
Why it matters
A risk reversal buys one side and sells the other, using the premium from one leg to pay for the other. It is a directional view financed with the opposite option.
Net of all legs, the structure behaves like being short roughly 170,600 shares of TSLA, about $61.01M of stock exposure.
The strikes run from $300.00 (16.1% below the stock) to $700.00 (95.8% above the stock), so the trade is built around a zone rather than a single target.
With 806 days until Dec 15, 2028, this is a long-dated position measured in years, the kind of trade built around a thesis rather than the next headline. Implied volatility sat near 46%, a middle-of-the-road price for movement.
Over the last 11 sessions $TSLA has traded between $345.88 and $386.83 and is down 0.8% over that stretch. The stock came into this trade in the middle of that range.
The numbers
| Structure | Risk reversal (2 legs) |
|---|---|
| Lean | Bearish |
| Expirations | Dec 15, 2028 (nearest in 806 days) |
| Strikes | $300, $700 |
| Contracts | 6,000 |
| Total premium | $26.21M |
| Net cost | $3.55M debit |
| Stock at the trade | $357.56 |
Three ways this could play out
Bullish continuation
A move through $700.00 puts $TSLA above every strike. For a structure leaning bearish, that is the worst case.
Bearish rejection
A drop under $300.00 takes $TSLA below every strike. That is where this bearish structure pays the most.
Neutral stabilization
If $TSLA settles between $300.00 and $700.00 into Dec 15, 2028, time decay and the final price decide who wins, which is exactly what spreads are built to control.
What to watch next
- $300.00 and $700.00: 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.
- Dec 15, 2028: expiration, 806 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.
- $345.88 and $386.83: the edges of TSLA’s recent trading range.
