CDNS options flow: unusual options activity in Cadence Design Systems Inc.
Updated 28 September 2026, 09:54 ET
Over the last week the tape recorded 61 unusual options prints in Cadence Design Systems Inc. (CDNS), $4.3M of tracked premium, close to even between bullish and bearish premium. Bullish premium was $2.0M against $2.1M bearish; $2.9M went into calls and $1.4M into puts, a put call ratio of 0.49. The largest print was $660K of CDNS 19 Mar 2027 $400 calls on 23 September 2026, executed at bid. The last session with prints, 28 September 2026, added 1 print and $49K of premium. CDNS closed at $326.13 on 25 September 2026, up 1.3%.
This week's unusual flow
Prints from 21 September 2026 to 28 September 2026, 6 sessions. Delayed tier: every print is shown twenty minutes after it executed, and the page is rebuilt after each session.
Net premium is bullish minus bearish premium. The put call ratio is put premium divided by call premium, weighted by money rather than by contract count. Sweeps is the share of prints executed across several exchanges at once. Read the guide: Reading the Pulse.
Largest prints of the week
| Date | Contract | Type | Size | Open int. | Premium | Execution | Sentiment | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Sep 2026 | CDNS 19 Mar 2027 $400 calls | Trade | 500 | 35 | $660K | At bid | Bearish | High conviction |
| 24 Sep 2026 | CDNS 21 Jan 2028 $460 calls | Sweep | 75 | 211 | $236K | At bid | Bearish | Notable |
| 22 Sep 2026 | CDNS 20 Nov 2026 $245 calls | Sweep | 32 | 1 | $187K | At ask | Bullish | High conviction |
| 25 Sep 2026 | CDNS 23 Oct 2026 $325 puts | Sweep | 130 | 1 | $178K | At bid | Bullish | High conviction |
| 21 Sep 2026 | CDNS 19 Feb 2027 $260 puts | Trade | 100 | 122 | $165K | At bid | Bullish | |
| 24 Sep 2026 | CDNS 20 Nov 2026 $325 puts | Trade | 54 | 57 | $138K | At ask | Bearish | Notable |
| 21 Sep 2026 | CDNS 19 Mar 2027 $270 calls | Trade | 25 | 22 | $131K | At ask | Bullish | Notable |
| 25 Sep 2026 | CDNS 18 Dec 2026 $295 puts | Sweep | 101 | 1 | $129K | At bid | Bullish | High conviction |
| 24 Sep 2026 | CDNS 21 Jan 2028 $250 calls | Trade | 10 | 65 | $110K | At ask | Bullish | |
| 25 Sep 2026 | CDNS 21 Jan 2028 $420 calls | Sweep | 23 | 80 | $105K | At bid | Bearish | Notable |
| 24 Sep 2026 | CDNS 20 Nov 2026 $330 calls | Sweep | 47 | 76 | $94K | At ask | Bullish | High conviction |
| 21 Sep 2026 | CDNS 19 Mar 2027 $280 calls | Trade | 20 | 2 | $93K | At bid | Bearish | Notable |
Size above open interest means the trade opened a position larger than everything that existed in the contract the night before. Above ask and below bid are the most aggressive executions. Read the guide: Size versus open interest.
Where the money is aimed
| Expiry | Prints | Premium | Calls share | Net premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Mar 2027 | 7 | $1.1M | 98% | -$794K |
| 21 Jan 2028 | 12 | $804K | 93% | -$334K |
| 20 Nov 2026 | 12 | $786K | 61% | +$325K |
| 18 Dec 2026 | 10 | $513K | 12% | +$327K |
| 16 Oct 2026 | 9 | $363K | 81% | +$84K |
| 23 Oct 2026 | 1 | $178K | 0% | +$178K |
The most premium, $1.1M, is aimed at the 19 Mar 2027 expiry; the nearest expiry with unusual prints is 16 Oct 2026.
A print in a contract expiring this week is a view about the next few days, often about a known event; a print months out is a different kind of statement. Read the guide: 0DTE options flow.
The last session, 28 September 2026
| Date | Contract | Type | Size | Open int. | Premium | Execution | Sentiment | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Sep 2026 | CDNS 16 Oct 2026 $275 calls | Trade | 10 | 60 | $49K | At ask | Bullish |
Every print in CDNS with its full detail, the live tape, one tap filters and saved screeners: open CDNS in Options Sentiment Screener.
Price
The live quote and the price chart sit beside the ticker's flow in the app: open CDNS in Options Sentiment Screener.
Analysts
The most recent analyst targets on file, from 10 firms, have a median of $420, 28.8% above the last close.
Calls bought at a strike above the average target are a bet that the analysts are too cautious; puts far below the price in a name they like are protection or a strong disagreement. Read the guide: Reading one ticker's flow.
About Cadence Design Systems Inc.
- Exchange
- Nasdaq
- Sector
- Information Technology
- Industry
- Computer Software
- Headquarters
- Wilmington, California
- Website
- cadence.com
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. provides software, hardware, services, and reusable integrated circuit (IC) design blocks. The company offers functional verification services, including emulation and prototyping hardware. It also provides digital IC design and sign off products, including Genus logic synthesis and Joules RTL power solutions.
In the same sector
Flow pages for other Information Technology names in the S&P 500:
NVDA NVIDIA Corp.AAPL Apple Inc.MSFT Microsoft Corp.AVGO Broadcom Inc.MU Micron Technology Inc.AMD Advanced Micro Devices Inc.INTC Intel Corp.PLTR Palantir Technologies Inc.
Learn
- What unusual options activity means
- Reading one ticker's flow
- Sweeps, blocks and where a trade printed
- Size versus open interest
- Bullish or bearish, how a print's sentiment is inferred
- The conviction score and whale prints
The live tape for CDNS with every print's execution detail, one tap filters for calls, puts, sweeps and 0DTE, saved screeners and, for Realtime subscribers, push alerts and no delay. The same screen is in the iOS and Android apps.
Open CDNS in Options Sentiment Screener