Sunday, Sept. 20: The AI trade did not move as one this week. AMD, Micron, Intel, and NVIDIA pushed higher. Meta finished almost flat after a sharp Friday reversal. Oracle lagged. The index tape looked calmer than the single-name tape underneath it.
I was watching the close on Friday when the dashboard made the split hard to miss. Tech flow still led with $37.5 million across 31 trades, yet the biggest single hedge was an $11.4 million SPY put block. That is a better weekend clue than a simple green or red finish.
The open may not tell the full story. If the next move comes from a leader rotating rather than the index breaking, the strike map will show it first. See the flow behind the move →
Three names changed the week
The weekly chart below shows why the dashboard’s single-name view matters. From Monday’s close to Friday’s close, AMD gained 13.5%, MU rose 9.9%, and INTC added 11.7%. NVDA gained 5.4%. QQQ rose 1.7%, while SPY added only 0.1%.
- AMD: $493.41 to $559.82. The strongest large AI chip move in the group.
- MU: $924.03 to $1,015.80. Memory is back on the radar before Sept. 30 earnings.
- INTC: $97.19 to $108.60. Monday’s gap lower became a full-week repair.
- META: $665.60 to $665.75. The flat week hides a $660.80 Friday low and a $690.15 high.
What the Alpha Dashboard said Friday
The live Alpha Dashboard snapshot closed the week with 85.5% sentiment and a 0.170 put/call ratio. Its leaders were NVDA at $13M, GOOGL at $7.3M, AMD at $6M, QQQ at $3M, and AVGO at $2.2M. Tech was not just positive; it was concentrated.
The risk line was clear too. SPY’s $745 put block stood out beside bearish flow in WBD, PBF, and ORCL. At the same time, the dashboard flagged LRCX $300 calls and TXN $270 calls as $1M-plus Alpha Sweeps. That mix says traders are still paying for upside in the AI supply chain while buying index protection.
Last week’s reads and Monday’s radar
Our prior Weekend Rundown tracked the first leadership split. Monday’s Intel stock spotlight then tested whether a bullish dashboard signal could survive a gap lower. Wednesday’s Meta chart read showed how one leader can separate from the pack.
On my radar: MU reports Sept. 30, and the dashboard still shows MU at +100 trend strength with $1.5M in bullish premium. I am also watching the LRCX and TXN sweep levels, plus whether NVDA can hold the $225 area after Friday’s $855K call sweep. The dashboard is the cleanest way to see whether those signals broaden or fade.
Next week, watch the leaders first and the index hedge second. If breadth stays narrow, the winners may keep running while SPY protection builds. If flow broadens, the dashboard should show it in sector totals before it appears in the headline tape.
P.S. The Friday flow split leaves a useful map for Monday: upside calls in NVDA, LRCX, and TXN against the SPY hedge. AlphaX Options is where I will be checking the next strike-map change.
Trade Smart, S.E.A.L. Alpha Team