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The options market has NVDA priced as a calm stock. It's been moving at a 45% clip.

2026-09-20

Overbought / Oversold

Overbought / oversold — 2026-09-18

Read the two ends of this card together and it stops being about individual stocks: the hot side is refiners, the washed-out side is REITs, and that is just the sector map showing up one name at a time. Energy has beaten the S&P by 18% over the last three months while real estate is the weakest group of the last month, so VLO turning up here again is the group doing its thing rather than the stock refusing to quit.

Most overbought

TickerLevelRSI PercentileCloseLast 5 Days
MPC Extreme overbought 99th $424.89 +7.3%
CHT Extreme overbought 99th $45.90 +2.3%
VLO Extreme overbought 98th $413.28 +5.9%

Most oversold

TickerLevelRSI PercentileCloseLast 5 Days
ADC Extreme oversold 0th $68.05 -4.5%
NNN Extreme oversold 0th $41.55 -5.3%
MGM Extreme oversold 0th $37.81 -5.2%

What's happened after this before

TickerNext 3 DaysNext 7 DaysNext 30 DaysPrior Times
VLO 59% · +0.4% 58% · +0.8% 63% · +2.3% 489
it kept going — higher 60% of the time, so "overbought" has not meant due to fall for this name
NNN 56% · +0.3% 56% · +0.5% 63% · +1.4% 449
it did tend to bounce — higher 58% of the time on average across the three windows
ADC 57% · +0.4% 57% · +0.5% 59% · +1.5% 458
it did tend to bounce — higher 58% of the time on average across the three windows
MPC 54% · +0.4% 59% · +1.0% 59% · +2.3% 288
it kept going — higher 58% of the time, so "overbought" has not meant due to fall for this name
CHT 47% · -0.0% 54% · +0.2% 64% · +1.0% 428
it kept going — higher 55% of the time, so "overbought" has not meant due to fall for this name
MGM 53% · +0.3% 55% · +0.7% 55% · +1.5% 496
it did tend to bounce — higher 54% of the time on average across the three windows

Each cell: how often the stock was higher, and its average move, every prior time it hit this level. Under the hood the windows are 3, 5 and 20 trading sessions. The line under each name is what that record says.

Worth sitting with: VLO, MPC, CHT are on this list for being at an extreme, and their own history says the extreme has not been the thing to trade against.

The Levels Map gives you the whole board: every name at an extreme, with where it stalls.

Key Levels

Key levels — 2026-09-18

Almost everything on this card is a breakdown or a rejection lower. STRL is the exception, and it is the one with the record worth knowing: it got turned back up at the 500 round for the second time in five sessions, and the last time it bounced off a round number, September 10 at 475, the next five sessions paid 4.30%.

FAF broke below a swing low at $71.22 (closed -2.3% through it).

Across 102,630 prior times a stock did this, it was higher five sessions later 54% of the time — the move through the level has not been the direction to follow.

Also at a level

LEN broke below a round number at $80.00 (closed -4.5% through it).

ALKS broke below a round number at $45.00 (closed -3.6% through it).

CLF got rejected at a swing high at $12.85.

DELL got rejected at its 52-week high at $593.98.

NET got rejected at its 52-week high at $336.90.

STRL bounced off a round number at $500.00.

The Levels Map carries every name being tested right now, not just this one.

Accelerating & Decelerating

Accelerating & decelerating — 2026-09-18

I'll admit MKTX amuses me here: a bond-trading venue whose daily range has shrunk to roughly a fifth of normal, in the back half of September, which is not usually when that business naps. The other end of the card is the same signal pointed the other way, with AN down double digits in five sessions and its range still widening, so that one isn't finished telling you what it is.

Speeding up

TickerShort vs Long ATRCloseLast 5 Days
GNRC 1.78× $207.44 +10.9%
AN 1.68× $168.29 -17.4%
SWKS 1.51× $88.76 +0.5%
ILMN 1.50× $239.62 +16.1%
CHT 1.47× $45.90 +2.3%

When stocks are speeding up, check the options pricing. Cheap options on stocks that are accelerating create a directional edge.

Slowing down

TickerShort vs Long ATRCloseLast 5 Days
MKTX 0.21× $163.42 +0.3%
TECH 0.36× $72.37 +0.3%
FRHC 0.50× $164.48 -0.6%
NTES 0.52× $116.19 +0.5%
EIX 0.55× $55.31 -1.2%

When stocks are slowing down, check the options pricing. Expensive options on slowing stocks create an income edge.

Short vs long ATR = 3-day against 27-day average true range; above 1× the daily ranges are widening, below 1× they're compressing.

Options Radar

Options radar — NVDA

The option market has NVDA priced as a calm stock at the very bottom of its implied-vol range, while the stock itself has spent the last month swinging at a 45% clip. What cheap implied does mechanically is simple: anyone selling NVDA premium right now is collecting less than the stock has actually been moving, and anyone buying an option is paying for less movement than they have been getting.

NVDA options are the day's outlier: pricing at the 0th percentile of their own last 35 sessions (ATM implied vol 30%, which is 0.65× what the stock has actually been moving). Cheap options on one name are worth a look if you were already watching it.

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