Retail traders are going all-in on options right now.
Last week, retail options hit 61% of total volume on Citadel's platform—nearly a record high. That's up 16 percentage points from a year ago and 10 points above the 2020 pandemic peak.
What's interesting: most of this action is in index and ETF options, not individual stocks. For every single-stock options contract, there are 1.7 index/ETF contracts being traded.
$SPY and $QQQ alone made up 47% of all retail options trades on Thursday.
This tells us retail isn't just gambling on meme stocks anymore. They're betting on broad market moves through ETFs—easier access, more liquidity, less single-stock risk.
But when retail options activity hits these levels, it usually signals extreme positioning. Markets can move fast when everyone's crowded on one side.
Last week, retail options hit 61% of total volume on Citadel's platform—nearly a record high. That's up 16 percentage points from a year ago and 10 points above the 2020 pandemic peak.
What's interesting: most of this action is in index and ETF options, not individual stocks. For every single-stock options contract, there are 1.7 index/ETF contracts being traded.
$SPY and $QQQ alone made up 47% of all retail options trades on Thursday.
This tells us retail isn't just gambling on meme stocks anymore. They're betting on broad market moves through ETFs—easier access, more liquidity, less single-stock risk.
But when retail options activity hits these levels, it usually signals extreme positioning. Markets can move fast when everyone's crowded on one side.
