Apple options traders bet on post-earnings rally to new highs

According to CNBC, Apple stock is up 20% from its late-June low and sits less than $2 below a fresh all-time high as the company prepares to report earnings after Thursday's close. Options traders bought heavily into calls on Friday, and pricing implies an almost 4% post-earnings move, well above the stock's average 1% swing over the past year. The largest trade was a new $2.6 million position in 280-strike calls expiring in mid-August, while the most active contract by volume was the 300-strike put expiring Friday. Nigam Arora, founder of The Arora Report newsletter, said Apple could help stabilize the market this week and that investors see it as a defensive stock because it is not spending hundreds of billions on AI capex.