Daily Morning Brief; August 17, 2026
Market Overview
The SPY is going for its 12th straight close above the 21 EMA and this trend just keeps grinding higher. The 8 EMA at 771.92 sits right under price and that has been the nearer support to lean on, with the 21 way down at 762.22 and the full stack intact. VIX at 15 tells you there’s no fear here. Nothing to do but respect the trend until the 8 breaks. This is a clean, orderly uptrend and the dips have been shallow.
Flow leaning bullish across the board today with longs showing up in materials, tech, industrials, and financials. Broad bull regime, nothing to fight here.
Top Setups — 5 Signals
B — BULL · LARGE
Calls Bought · Strike: 55.0 · Exp: Jan27 · 5000 contracts · $830K
Bull is stacked and running above all its key levels with price at 42.89 and the 8 EMA up at 41.21. Someone stepped in for 5000 Jan27 55 calls, a longer-dated bet that this keeps climbing. The 8 EMA is your closer level to watch since the stock is well extended above the 21 and there’s no reason to wait for a deep pullback here.
SNDK — BULL · LARGE
Puts Sold · Strike: 1800.0 · Exp: Sep26 · 114 contracts · $2.1M
This thing is a monster, trading at 1792 with the 200 day all the way down at 911. Big put sale in the Sep 1800 strike, over $2M notional, someone comfortable getting paid to be short downside. Price is stretched well above the 8 EMA so this is pure momentum, and the flow is a bet the trend holds rather than a pullback play.
