All eyes are on tech this week as Apple, Facebook and Amazon report earnings, and options traders are expecting big moves from these mega-cap stocks.
Apple reports earnings on Tuesday after the bell. The options market is implying a 3.2 percent move in either direction, which is less than the average move of 4.8 percent.
The stock is up about 5 percent this year and nearly 9 percent since the election. According to FactSet, 80 percent of analysts covering the stock have given it a buy or equivalent rating with a price target of $133.34.
Facebook reports earnings on Wednesday after the market close. The stock has been a standout in the tech space this year, up 13 percent. Options traders are anticipating a 4.8 percent move in either direction for the stock.
Amazon is the last of the three to report, which it will do Thursday after the closing bell. The options market is implying a move of about 4.9 percent in either direction, about half of the historical 9 percent move. Amazon shares are up almost 10 percent this year, and trading just 2 percent below its all-time high.
"Average moves for these stocks has historically been substantially higher," Mike Khouw of Optimize Advisors said Monday on CNBC's "Fast Money." "I think what the options market is telling us is that a lot of what they've been reporting has already been baked into the cake. We're not anticipating a whole lot of surprises."
These three tech stocks make up more than 20 percent of the Nasdaq 100, and if their implied moves were to come to fruition, that would represent a market cap swing of nearly $60 billion.
Options traders calculate the implied move for equities by measuring a particular stock's so-called straddle — or at the money put and call. The amount of the straddle typically captures market makers' expectations for how much a stock is going to move.
