Options flow recaps & market notes

Bitcoin jumped nearly 8% on Aug. 19 toward $69,500 and forced a record ~$2.7 billion of crypto short liquidations, including more than $1 billion of Bitcoin shorts in about an hour. Two-day short wipeouts through Aug. 20 ran past $3.1 billion as price reports pushed toward $72,000. Read →

Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said Justin Herbert would play a series — the first drive, in contemporaneous reports — against the 49ers in the Aug. 20 preseason game as the offense gets live reps in Mike McDaniel’s playbook. It is a planned look, not a Week 1 snap count. Read →

Moderna and Merck’s Phase 3 INTerpath-001 melanoma trial met RFS and DMFS on Aug. 19. Barron’s put Wednesday’s gain at 177%. Thursday the stock reversed hard — more than 9% in pre-market per Schwab, with session reports of a much larger fade — as the tape digested a historic one-day spike, not a new trial miss. Read →

Brent settled $91.62 and WTI $85.83 on Aug. 19, the highest in nearly four weeks, as Strait of Hormuz traffic stayed slow and the UAE suspended economic transactions with Iran. Thursday the climb extended, with Brent reported toward the low $90s as U.S. SPR commentary added a second supply scare. Read →

The Raiders started No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza in preseason Week 2 at Houston and played him the first half, with Aidan O’Connell scheduled after that, per Adam Schefter. Mendoza finished the half 8-of-15 for 86 yards and a pick-six. Kirk Cousins had started the preseason opener; Mendoza had thrown for 97 yards and a touchdown in relief. Read →

Walmart’s U.S. comparable sales rose 2.6% in Q2, short of Street estimates around 3.7–3.8% and the slowest pace since 2020. Shares fell about 9% even after a revenue/EPS beat and a raised full-year outlook. Management flagged more than $2 billion of incremental fuel-cost headwinds this year. Read →

Saints RB Alvin Kamara sprained his MCL in a Tuesday joint practice and is expected to miss at least a month, Adam Schefter reported. The Athletic said he avoided major ligament damage but will not be ready for the Sept. 13 opener in Detroit. Read →

Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon won the Democratic Senate primary over Alex Vindman, about 56% to 44%, after raising under $1 million to Vindman’s $16 million. She faces Sen. Ashley Moody in November. Read →

July FOMC minutes are due Aug. 19 at 2 p.m. ET. The committee held 3.50–3.75% on a 9–3 vote. Hammack, Kashkari, and Logan wanted +25 bp. The minutes show how far that hawkish lean went. Read →

Texans WR Jayden Higgins tore his ACL in the Aug. 18 joint practice against the Raiders and will miss the 2026 season, Ian Rapoport reported. The 2025 first-rounder (No. 34) caught 41 passes for 525 yards and six touchdowns as a rookie. Read →

Lakers governor Jeanie Buss is contesting a family vote to sell the remaining 17.8% stake to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger. Her lawyer says any sale without the co-trustees is void under a 2017 court order. Read →

Moderna and Merck’s personalized melanoma vaccine cut recurrence or death 49% versus Keytruda alone at five years in Phase 2b KEYNOTE-942. Phase 3 INTerpath-001 is fully enrolled. There is no new Aug. 19 trial print. Read →

NFL preseason Week 2 starts Thursday, Aug. 20. Starter snap counts are still being held back. Joe Burrow played two series (13 snaps) in Week 1. Tyson Bagent is in doubt with a hamstring. Read the plan, then the box score. Read →

On Aug. 18 the SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets: a $5 million startup exemption over four years, a $75 million fundraising exemption per 12 months, and a conditional safe harbor. Comment period: 60 days. Read →

SK Hynix will buy back and cancel 40 trillion won (~$29 billion) of treasury shares, as many as 24 million, from Aug. 20 to Nov. 19, after the stock fell more than 50% in two months. Read →

Trump paused 50% tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian imports for three days after a last-minute deal, hours before a 12:01 a.m. Wednesday deadline. Documents still have to close. Read →

Bears backup QB Tyson Bagent hurt a hamstring in Saturday’s 34–10 preseason win over Cleveland. He did not practice Tuesday. The injury is not called serious. Thursday’s joint practice and Saturday in Cincinnati are unclear. Read →

Hangzhou’s Unitree Robotics, ticker 688836, listed on Shanghai’s STAR Market on Aug. 19. Shares ran from a ¥150.80 IPO price to as high as ¥1,100, then eased toward ¥900 — still about a 500% first-day gain. Read →

Jets coach Aaron Glenn said Breece Hall will miss 2–3 weeks with a groin strain suffered Monday in practice but is expected to be ready for the Sept. 13 opener at Tennessee. Hall is done for the preseason. The MRI, Glenn said, was the good kind of news. Read →

Saints rookie WR Jordyn Tyson is expected out about two months with a hamstring. What it does to redraft, dynasty, Olave, and the host tools that actually have to run this week. Read →

The Cardinals rookie homered on the first pitch he saw at Wrigley, then again, then again, to three different fields. He finished 3-for-4 with five RBI in an 8-4 win over the Cubs. Read →

Five vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and none on Sunday, against 31 the weekend before. Traffic is down about 90% since the war began, and the 60-day US-Iran arrangement expired Monday. Read →

At a Garden City rally Trump told drivers a tiny bit more for gasoline is worth stopping a nuclear Iran, then said he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory. Iran called it fanciful delusions. Read →

Michael Burry added to a short position in Nebius at $247, calling it what the top of a boom looks like. The case rests on server depreciation schedules and what customers pay for short-term compute. Read →