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The order flow in AI stocks just turned decisively negative.

And I haven't seen this pattern in months.

Markets closed basically flat today. The S&P sits at the upper edge of its expected move. The advance-decline line shows 70 advancers versus 30 decliners. Everything looks fine on the surface.

Underneath? The opposite story is unfolding.

I track something most traders ignore. It's called order flow. Not just volume, but whether options are being bought at the ask or sold to the bid. Whether puts are getting scooped up aggressively or calls are getting dumped at any price.

Today, that flow reversed hard across every major AI name:

• Palantir (PLTR): Put buying exploded to 4.4x normal levels. Traders are hitting the ask, paying up for downside protection.
• Tesla (TSLA): 5 million option contracts traded. Puts bought at the ask are now outpacing puts sold to the bid. That's aggressive positioning.
• Nvidia (NVDA): Massive call selling. Put activity picking up fast in just the last two hours of trade.
• Amazon (AMZN) and Broadcom (AVGO): Same pattern. Calls being "smoked out" while put sizzle climbs.

The only exception? Apple. Still seeing call buying there.

Here's what concerns me most. This morning traders showed up like Pavlov's dogs. Bell rings, they rush in and buy calls. Tesla ripped from $243 to $246 in one minute. Then got absolutely crushed the rest of the day.

That's not normal profit-taking. That's institutional money positioning for downside.

The advanced decline line stays positive because traders are attempting to rotate into financials and energy. They're buying everything except tech. But here's the problem with that strategy.

When mega-cap tech starts pulling back harder, it's going to suck down every other sector with it. Those rotation attempts will fail. The market cap concentration is too extreme.

Next week's expected move just increased despite nothing happening this week. The market is pricing in more risk, not less. And with negative order flow now bleeding through AI names, Chinese tech, and the government shutdown still unresolved, early next week could get interesting fast.

Video Length: 00:20:31

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