Breaking down unusual trading in Navitas NVTS with Nvidia NVDA
Was it insider trading?
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Hey all,
Nicholas from the Unusual Whales team, here! We’re going to spend one issue every week walking you through some trades of the week for free to help your trading!
In this issue, we’re breaking down one of last week’s most eye-catching options trades on Navitas Semiconductor, ticker $NVTS. This single trade, placed just days before a major NVIDIA partnership announcement, exploded into a massive profit for whoever was behind it—and the timing was suspicious enough to raise eyebrows.
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Now for the $NVTS and $NVDA trade-of-the-month. Here’s what happened:
On Friday, May 16th, someone bought a huge block of 5,000 contracts of the $4 strike call expiring January 16th, 2026. All contracts were filled at the ask price of $0.20 per contract.
That totaled $100,000 in premium, a sizable bet for a relatively quiet stock like NVTS. Before this trade, open interest on that strike was just 1,200 contracts, so this was a brand-new position—not just a shuffle or adjustment.
What made this so unusual is that it happened with zero public news or any obvious catalyst. NVTS wasn’t trending, volume on the entire options book was seemingly silent.
This wasn’t just a small, speculative play. It was a big, long-dated, far out-of-the-money bet, placed aggressively on the ask side, and caught our attention instantly. Now mind you, if this size of play hit a large name like $AAPL or $AMZN, my eyebrows wouldn’t have even twitched all that much. But for this NVTS position, the volume on that trade alone was more than 10 times the average three-day call volume for NVTS at that time.
Fast forward to Tuesday, May 21st — just five days later — Navitas announced a strategic partnership with NVIDIA to supply high-voltage DC power delivery systems for AI data centers. This deal was significant. NVIDIA is arguably at the center of the AI revolution in regards to powering, and partnering with Navitas puts NVTS in the spotlight as a key player in AI infrastructure.
The market response was explosive.
NVTS had closed the previous Friday at $2.08. When pre-market trading opened on May 21st, it surged to $5.05 — a gain of over 140% before regular hours even started. By the time the market opened, the stock was up more than 180% from the prior close.
Those $4 calls that had been bought for $0.20 each just days before suddenly went from being deep out of the money, to deep in the money overnight.
The price of those contracts surged to a peak of $2.65, representing a staggering 1,225% gain.
That turned that initial $100,000 investment into more than $1.3 million in less than a week.
Clearly, whoever placed that trade had a lot of conviction—enough to bet six figures on a relatively small, quiet stock without any public confirmation.
While we can’t say for sure what information they had or when they had it, the timing and size heavily suggest they had strong reason to believe something big was coming.
This kind of unusual options flow is exactly why paying attention to options markets matters. Most flow is noise—small, everyday hedges, retail speculation, and market maker activity. But sometimes, traders place aggressive, well-timed bets that stand out if you know where to look.
And the story doesn’t end there, and in fact, doesn’t end with this article as the position is still open.
Before I break down the most recent development in this $NVTS position, as a reminder, API price increases are coming, Here’s a breakdown:
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As of May 27th, almost all of those $4 calls bought on May 16th remained open, and the profit on them has only grown.
On May 27th, NVTS hit a high of $6.59 during regular trading hours. At that price, those $4 calls were worth around $4.50 each at their peak.
That’s a 2,150% gain on the contracts.
If the entire 5,000-contract position is still held, that would represent an unreal $2.15 million profit on a single options trade—just eleven days after the initial buy.
It’s a perfect example of how the options market can reveal early signals of major moves before they hit headlines.
And it also shows how powerful a well-timed long-dated call position can be when paired with a game-changing corporate event.
The lesson here is simple: unusual options flow, when filtered and practiced, can spotlight high conviction trades that might otherwise fly under the radar. But catching these requires tools, discipline, and time.
If you want to learn more about spotting unusual flow, we have plenty of resources on our YouTube channel and constantly discussed and shared in our Discord community. You can see live examples, historical breakdowns, and how to use the Unusual Whales platform to level up your trading.
Last week’s NVTS trade was one of the biggest movers on the tape.
Hopefully these writeups help you learn a bit more about how to spot unusual activity in your flow feeds! Let us know what you want to see next!
Thanks as always for reading! You can find articles like this and MANY others about Options and the Unusual Whales Platform on the new Information Hub!!
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NOTE: This post is not financial advice. The stock market is risky, and any trade or investment is expected to have some, or total, loss. Please do research before any trade. Do not use this information for investment decisions. Check terms on site for full terms. Agree to terms before considering this information.