What is the options flow saying about SMH?
VanEck Semiconductor ETF · SMH · data through 2026-08-28 · free to read
On 2026-08-28, VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) traded $109.1M of call premium against $79.4M of put premium, 58% of it on the call side. The tape leans balanced. Volume and open interest below, updated after each close.
The session's options tape
How much open interest is standing
Across 90 sessions to 2026-08-28, SMH carries 187k of call open interest against 348k of puts, a put/call ratio of 1.86. Open interest is what is still on the book, as opposed to what changed hands today.
Where the premium has gone over three months
From 2026-05-28 to 2026-08-28, cumulative call premium reached $7.7B against $12.5B on puts, a net of -$4.8B. One day's flow is noise; the cumulative line is where a lean shows up.
Common questions about SMH
What does the options flow on SMH actually mean?
It is the money that changed hands in SMH options on 2026-08-28: $109.1M paid for calls, $79.4M for puts. Premium is the better read than contract count, because a thousand cheap far-dated calls and one large near-dated block are not the same conviction, and only premium tells them apart.
Is heavy call buying in SMH bullish?
Not by itself. 58% of SMH's premium sat on the call side, and a good share of any day's call volume is someone hedging a short, closing a position, or a market maker managing inventory. Flow says where money went, never why. It is one input among several, which is how it is weighted on the desk.
What is the difference between volume and open interest on SMH?
Volume is what traded today: 80985 calls and 218429 puts. Open interest is what is still on the book afterwards, currently 187k of calls against 348k of puts. Volume can spike and vanish the same day; open interest rising means positions were opened rather than closed.
How often does this page update?
After each US close. Options data settles overnight, so the figures shown for 2026-08-28 are the complete session rather than a partial intraday snapshot. A real-time feed is a different product for a different holding period.
More on SMH
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