Top 20 Equity Options Traded
in July 2024
August 1, 2024
“Rotation” is the word heard most frequently in July as we bring the Russell 2000 index into the conversation this month. As we get closer to an anticipated interest rate cut in September, small caps can be the beneficiary with lower cost of debt financing. That along with the lofty valuations of mega cap tech stocks, we saw the rotation out of high-tech into banking (+16.1%), real estate (+6.9%), utilities (+6.1%) and industrial (+4.8%) sectors in July.
For the month the Nasdaq lost .75% while the S&P climbed 1.1% and the Dow jumped 4.4%. Most notably, the Russell 2000 was the big winner up 10% in July. On the last day of the month, the Fed left rates unchanged but left room for a cut in the near future.
July 2024 will forever be known in the history books related to the US presidential election. Within a few weeks, we witnessed a cringeworthy debate, an assassination attempt on former President Trump, President Biden withdrew from the race and handed off the reins on VP Harris. These events have significantly shifted the pollical landscape with 95 days to go before election day.
Possibly correlated with the political stage, markets in July also saw increased volatility with large swings throughout the month across many market segments. The chart below visualizes the market swing in ETF performance based on the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P for the month of July 2024. As noted, we included the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM).
We continue the trend with the top 5 symbols accounting for 50% of the trade volume, Nvidia continues in the #1 spot and is the heavyweight with 22% of trade activity in July as we saw some profit taking for NVDA in the month.
Crowdstrike entered the Top 20 list in June as a new hero on Wall Street. Unfortunately, Crowdstrike deployed an update that caused the largest global computer outages in history with roughly 8.5 million systems crashing on July 19th. Not surprising, CRWD tanked over 40% as traders punished them for the blunder. In July we see continued interest in the Mag-7. Salesforce (CRM), Analog Devices (ADI) and Nike (NKE) enter the top 20 in July.
Below are the most active 20 equity symbols based on the number of option trades in eOption accounts in July 2024. Note that we do not make trade recommendations and are sharing this solely for your interest.
- Nvidia (NVDA)
- Tesla (TSLA)
- Amazon (AMZN)
- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
- Apple (AAPL)
- Meta Platforms (META)
- Booking.com (BKNG)
- Netflix (NFLX)
- Boeing (BA)
- CrowdStrike (CRWD)
- Micron Technology (MU)
- Salesforce (CRM)
- Texas Instruments (TXN)
- Super Micro Computer (SMCI)
- Microsoft (MSFT)
- Marathon Digital (MARA)
- Palo Alto Networks (PANW)
- Exxon Mobile (XOM)
- Analog Devices (ADI)
- Nike (NKE)
Can small caps and the Russell 2000 hold steady in August? Or is the a short-term rotation? How will the US presidential election impact the markets in 2024 and beyond? We will discuss in next month’s report.
Stay informed and trade well.
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This information provided for general informational purposes only and should not be considered recommendations or advice by eOption. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
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