Micron Shares Face Rising Bearish Options Activity After Rally

what happened

Benzinga reported that Micron Technology shares fell 2% on Monday, although they remained up more than 260% in 2026. The advance has been linked to AI-related demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), DRAM and enterprise storage. At the same time, bearish signals have been building across the semiconductor sector.

By midday Friday, more than 180,000 puts had traded in the VanEck Semiconductor ETF, compared with about 50,000 calls. ThinkOrSwim and SpotGamma data showed roughly $46 million in put premium versus $26 million in call premium. SpotGamma also identified about $270 million in Micron premium connected to likely put buying, including deep in-the-money contracts expiring in June 2028. Trades involving strikes from $2,250 to $2,500 appeared to form a bearish spread worth about $14.5 million, with a profile similar to a synthetic short. Volland founder Jason DeLorenzo cautioned that bid-ask analysis alone does not establish the direction of a trade.

D.A. Davidson Managing Director Gil Luria remains bullish on Micron and recently lifted his 12-month price forecast to $3,000 from $2,100. He said AI has made memory more important to model performance and speed. Luria also expects more than half of Micron’s products to be sold under five-year agreements as Microsoft, Amazon.com and Alphabet design specialized memory products into their data centers. Micron’s buyback restrictions expire on Dec. 9, and management has said it intends to use 100% of excess cash flow for opportunistic repurchases.

Micron shares were down 1.78% at $1010.69 in premarket trading on Monday.

why it matters

The options activity points to heavier hedging or bearish positioning in semiconductors, while AI demand, longer contracts and a possible buyback resumption remain supportive factors for Micron.

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