Thursday marks the busiest day for earnings, and results from three tech behemoths could cause a major shift in market cap.
Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft are all set to report after the market close on Thursday, and the options market is implying about a 4 percent move in either direction for Alphabet and Amazon and about a 3.5 percent move for Microsoft. If these moves play out, it could represent a combined $67 billion potential market cap swing.
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 markers' expectations for how much a stock is going to move.
While the number may seem jarring, Mike Khouw of Optimize Advisors told CNBC's "Fast Money" on Wednesday that it's "in line approximately with the average moves on earnings over the past 8 quarters."
All three tech heavyweights have been on fire this year. Amazon shares are up 30 percent in 2017 with Microsoft and Alphabet shares up more than 27 percent.
Analysts on FactSet have given both Amazon and Alphabet an average rating of buy with an average price target of $979.25 for Amazon and $999.88 for Alphabet. Microsoft has an average analyst rating of overweight with a price target of $81.57 per share.
"I like Microsoft going into earnings. The company is very reasonably priced, and there's not a lot of concern from investors going into earnings," Khouw said. Microsoft hit another all-time high on Thursday, and according to FactSet, analysts are expecting earnings of 72 cents per share on $23.5 billion in revenue.
Despite a strong performance overall this year, Amazon has fallen about 6 percent from its high in July. "I wouldn't necessarily be a buyer here. It's not quite cheap enough," Khouw explained. Amazon is expected to report earnings of 7 cents per share on $41.6 billion in revenue.
Analysts are expecting Alphabet to report earnings of $8.35 per share on $21.9 billion in revenue. The stock is currently trading about 1 percent from its all-time highs.
