Noteworthy Thursday Option Activity: COHR, RGTI, BDX

Rigetti Computing options traded 195,914 contracts today (≈19.6M underlying shares), equal to roughly 44.9% of RGTI's one‑month average daily volume (43.7M shares); notable activity was concentrated in the $25 put expiring Dec 19, 2025 with 12,899 contracts (~1.3M shares). Becton, Dickinson & Co saw 11,780 option contracts (~1.2M underlying shares), about 44.7% of its one‑month ADV (2.6M shares), driven by 11,250 contracts in the $220 call expiring Mar 20, 2026 (~1.1M shares). These flows represent significant concentrated option interest that could reflect speculative positioning or hedging and may create short‑term directional pressure or volatility in the respective equities.

Analysis

Market structure: The RGTI flow (12,899 Dec 19, 2025 $25 puts ≈1.3M shares, ~44.9% of ADV) signals concentrated bearish positioning that benefits option sellers/market-makers via increased IV and creates downward gamma hedging pressure on the stock in the coming days. BDX’s 11,250 Mar 20, 2026 $220 calls (~1.1M shares, ~44.7% of ADV) implies large directional or covered-call activity that can compress realized volatility for peers in medtech and supports defensive rotation into healthcare capitalization-weighted names.

Risk assessment: Near-term (days–weeks) expect pronounced price moves from dealer delta-hedging around both option blocks; medium-term (1–6 months) RGTI faces funding/dilution and product/timeline execution risk that could trigger >40–60% moves, while BDX faces M&A/earnings catalysts that could re-rate ±10–20%. Hidden dependencies: trades may be hedges for convertible issuance, structured notes, or employee comp—meaning flow could reverse quickly if the originating risk is squared; monitor implied vol term structure for abrupt term-structure steepening.

Trade implications: Implement defined-risk directional option spreads sized 0.5–2% of AUM: for RGTI buy Dec 19, 2025 $25/$15 put spread (bearish, caps loss) or short 0.5% equity with a 15% stop to exploit put-flow beta; for BDX buy Mar 20, 2026 $220/$250 call spread (1–2% AUM) or buy stock 1–2% weight if you want dividend exposure. Pair trade: long BDX (1% AUM) / short MDT (1% AUM) to isolate medtech-beta vs idiosyncratic upside.

Contrarian angles: The market may be misreading block activity as pure directional bets—if these are sold puts/calls for yield, underlyings could mean-revert once dealers hedge off positions; implied vol may be overstated for short-dated tenors—consider selling 30–90 day vol where gamma is highest and buying 9–12 month protection. Historical parallels: large pre-M&A call prints in medtech preceded acquisitions; conversely, concentrated puts in small-cap tech sometimes signaled structured-product hedges not pure shorts, so avoid oversized conviction without verifying open-interest and clearing-party flow.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Establish a 1% net long position in BDX via Mar 20, 2026 $220/$250 call spreads (buy 220C, sell 250C) sized to risk ~0.5% AUM loss; rationale: captures bullish flow with defined risk and 30–40%+ upside if acquisition/earnings re-rate.
• Establish a 0.5–1% bearish position in RGTI via Dec 19, 2025 $25/$15 put spreads (buy 25P, sell 15P) to monetize concentrated put-flow while capping downside; size to limit max drawdown to stated allocation.