Nvidia perpetual futures began falling on Sunday as news of a potential scandal around CEO Jensen Huang emerged, before pre-market equity trading had started. Prediction contracts and early options trading also drew activity, pointing to demand for market access when exchanges are closed.
Traders placed bearish bets on Nvidia perpetual futures on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, before pre-market equity trading had started. The moves came as news of a potential scandal surrounding Huang began to trickle out.
Perps move first on Nvidia
Hyperliquid's xyz contract slipped to as low as $180.15 on $200 million of volume by 3:30 p.m. ET. Both equity shares and perps on Nvidia then fell below $178 overnight.
Nvidia traded 7% lower on Monday, according to CNBC. In their simplest form, perpetual futures are highly leveraged bets that never expire, and they can track almost any asset class and trade around the clock, seven days a week.
Prediction markets and options see activity
Perps were not the only product to see increased volume over the weekend. A Kalshi contract asking when Huang might leave as Nvidia CEO, listed just days before the reports, saw over $105,000 traded on Sunday.
Pre-market options trading on Nvidia, which began just weeks ago, saw $15 million in options premium traded across about 40,000 contracts. A little over half the contracts were puts, with just under $10 million of premium tied to them, SpotGamma data show.
Why weekend products matter
Rich Repetto, a former exchange analyst and market structure expert, said perps have filled a significant gap in the market when there otherwise would be a vacuum. Similarly, Options Action contributor Mike Khouw said: "Futures, prediction markets and expanded afterhours trading helps fill that gap."
Source: CNBC
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