Apple’s Options Volume Surpasses Nvidia’s as iPhone 17 Goes on Sale: Options Chatter

Shares advanced as much as 3.4% to the highest intraday level since February amid reports of long lines of customers seen outside of Apple stores in New York, London, Los Angeles and Hong Kong as the new designs spurred interest from iPhone users looking to upgrade from their older model.

"Early demand indications are outlining the opportunity for the volume cycle to not only track higher than our initial expectations," JPMorgan analysts including Samik Chatterjee wrote in a note, as they raised their price target on Apple to $280, from $255. "We expect the momentum to accelerate into FY26 with the launch of the foldable iPhone setting up for a stronger upgrade cycle in FY27 along with acceleration in pricing tailwinds."

About 2.1 million call and put options changed hands as of 1:47 p.m. in New York, putting Apple on course to be the second most active stock option, just behind Tesla’s 2.45 million options volume and ahead of Nvidia’s 1.93 million contracts.

Call options that give their holder the right to buy Apple shares at $242.50 attracted the heaviest trading as the stock price climbed above that strike price, pushing the contracts in the money with just hours left before they expire.

Volume on that contract climbed five-fold to 270,610 contracts, more than 8X the open interest. Trading climbed from 52,813 call options a day earlier.

JPM analysts forecast iPhone sales to rise 2% to 236 million units in fiscal year 2026. That, “when combined with mix tailwinds will, in our view, support mid- to high-single digit iPhone revenue growth,” they said.