By Ainvest in block-monitor — 18 Jul 2025

🔍 Block Monitor End-of-Day Trading Summary - 2025-07-18

Daily block monitor analysis featuring institutional trading activity and market movements. Educational content for investment research purposes only.

📊 Daily Block-Trade Sentiment Analysis

Institutional Options Flow & Market Sentiment | July 18, 2025

⏰ Data as of: July 18, 2025, 4:00 PM ET ^[DS]

📊 Executive Summary

30 Tickers Analyzed

$94.9M Total Premium Value

118 Unusual Trades

757,753 Calls vs 739,375 Puts

🎯 Market Sentiment Overview

📉 Overall Direction

Bearish

$26.97M Bearish vs $22.62M Bullish Premium ^[S1]

🟢 Most Bullish Flow

IREN

85% call flow, JPM upgrade ^[S2]

🔴 Most Bearish Flow

IWM

Call/Put Ratio: 0.21 ^[S3]

📊 Key Insight

Sector Rotation

Heavy macro ETF hedging activity ^[S4]

🏆 Top Tickers by Premium Value

#1 IWM - iShares Russell 2000 ETF 🔴 BEARISH

$29,206,888 Total Premium

📊 Volume Analysis

Total Volume: 60,992 contracts

Average Trade Size: 4,357 contracts

Largest Trade: 20,000 contracts

Current Stock Price: $224.19

💰 Premium Analysis

Bullish Premium: $8,905,500

Bearish Premium: $12,405,237

📉 Net Bearish: $3,499,737

📈 Sentiment Flow

Call/Put Ratio: 0.21 🔴

Buy/Sell Ratio: 0.76 📈

OTM Volume: 25,000 contracts

🎯 Market Context

Small-caps stretched vs S&P 500

MACD histogram turned negative

Put-call ratio at 1.4

^[IWM1]

🔥 Top Trades by Premium

1. 📈 BUY 20,000x $220 PUT 2025-09-19 (ATM) 🚨
Premium: $12,140,000 | Price: $6.07
Time: 2025-07-18 11:53:34 ET ^[IWM2]

2. 📉 SELL 10,000x $220 PUT 2025-09-19 (ATM) 🚨
Premium: $6,300,000 | Price: $6.30
Time: 2025-07-18 11:42:19 ET

📊 View IWM Chart

#2 XLI - Industrial Select Sector SPDR 🔴 BEARISH

$15,394,216 Total Premium

📊 Sector Pulse

Industrials lead YTD (+15%)

Reshoring & defense themes

Quant models: overcrowded long

^[XLI1]

💰 Flow Analysis

Total Volume: 328,000 contracts

Call/Put Ratio: 0.37 🔴

Buy/Sell Ratio: 0.36 📉

🎯 Catalysts Ahead

July flash PMI – 23 Jul

Boeing 737-MAX update – late Jul

^[XLI2]

📊 View XLI Chart

#3 IREN - Iris Energy 🟢 BULLISH

$10,099,425 Total Premium

🏢 Company Brief

Clean-energy Bitcoin miner

Adding 2.4k Nvidia Blackwell GPUs

AI-cloud sideline strategy

^[IREN1]

📈 Sentiment Analysis

Upgraded to Overweight by JPM

Options skew +12 vols to calls

Call/Put Ratio: 1.00 🟢

^[IREN2]

🎯 Catalysts Ahead

June hash-rate update – 7 Aug

Blackwell cluster online – Q3

^[IREN3]

🔥 Flow Snapshot

$10M, 85% call buys, strikes $15-$20 (Mar 2026)
Largest: UNKNOWN 10,000x $15 CALL @ $5.86
Premium: $5,860,000 ^[IREN4]

📊 View IREN Chart

#4 MARA - Marathon Digital 🟢 BULLISH

$7,619,039 Total Premium

🏢 Company Story

Biggest US BTC miner

Raising $850M in converts

46 EH/s expansion plan

^[MARA1]

📈 Sentiment Analysis

Call/Put Ratio: 0.73 🟢

Mixed: PT median $21 vs $20 spot

Short interest: 17% float

^[MARA2]

🎯 Catalysts Ahead

Q2 earnings – 24 Jul

Texas immersion farm ramp – Aug

^[MARA3]

📊 View MARA Chart

#5 FXI - iShares China Large-Cap ETF 🟢 BULLISH

$5,738,000 Total Premium

🌏 Macro Lens

Beijing hints at property rescue

US tariff threats linger

$5.7M buy-write Sep $35

^[FXI1]

🎯 Catalysts Ahead

Politburo meeting – 30 Jul

Caixin PMI – 1 Aug

^[FXI2]

📊 View FXI Chart

🚨 Most Unusual Trades of the Day

#1 XLI XLI 20250822 146 PUT 📉

UNKNOWN 50,784 contracts @ $1.00

Premium Value: $5,078,400

Moneyness: OTM (4.3%)

Unusual Factors: 🔥 1015680.0% of OI, 💰 Large Premium ^[U1]

📊 View XLI Chart

#2 IREN IREN 20260320 15 CALL 📉

UNKNOWN 10,000 contracts @ $5.86

Premium Value: $5,860,000

Moneyness: ITM

Context: Part of $10M bullish call flow ^[U2]

📊 View IREN Chart

🎯 Key Takeaways for Retail Traders

🔥 Macro ETFs Dominate: Heavy hedging activity in IWM and TLT suggests institutional caution ahead of Fed meeting (30 Jul) and economic data releases. ^[T1]

⚡ Crypto Miners Bullish: IREN and MARA attracted significant call flow as Bitcoin approaches key levels. Watch upcoming earnings (MARA 24 Jul) and hash-rate updates. ^[T2]

🤖 AI Infrastructure Focus: Continued institutional interest in AI-related names with upcoming catalysts. SMCI straddles suggest big move expected around earnings. ^[T3]

📅 Event Density High: Mark calendars for 22-24 Jul earnings cluster (SMCI, MARA, TSLA) and 30 Jul FOMC meeting. ^[T4]

📚 Sources & References

Data Sources

[DS] Ainvest Block Monitor - Institutional Options Flow Data

[DISC] Disclaimer: This analysis is for educational purposes only. All data sourced from institutional block trade monitors and public filings. Past performance does not guarantee future results.