Traders are making big moves ahead of these earnings reports due Thursday

With Nvidia earnings in the rearview mirror, traders have a handful of earnings before and after the bell to trade on Thursday. Here’s how the action is setting up in some of the most popular names for options traders.

The consumer retail giant is having a great year, up 16% — almost double the S&P 500 — as consumers under inflationary pressure seek shopping at a value. Walmart shares have dropped after four of the last five reports and swung an average 4.5% the past two years. Right now, options traders are prepared for just under that, with a 4.3% expected move. Of all the stocks reporting Thursday,

Walmart was the most actively traded in options Wednesday, with more than 154,000 contracts exchanged. More puts traded than calls by volume, but more premium was spent on calls.

Chinese electric-vehicle maker Nio is up 9% on the year despite Chinese stocks in the Hang-Seng Index down 2% and the iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI) down 9%. Trading under $5.6 at Wednesday’s close, the ADR is a popular trade among speculators looking for nominally cheap contracts. More than 110,000 calls traded Wednesday, compared to just 35,000 puts. More calls were sold than bought, and the 6 and 6.5-strike calls expiring Friday were most popular by volume. Gamma exposure of $25 million was five times the actual premium traded, suggesting out-of-the-money traders looking for big, quick moves.

Trading and investing app Webull is down 15% on the year, bringing its 52-week decline to more than 40%. It’s not the only brokerage under pressure: Robinhood is down 34%, and Charles Schwab has lost 11%. Options traders bought more than three times as many calls as puts on the stock Wednesday, and the implied move points to a 8.5% swing.

The best year-to-date performer on the list, Advance Auto Parts up 32% and options traders are positioned for further gains. Call volume was almost three times puts Wednesday, with 2,000 calls bought versus fewer than 800 puts. The stock also may offer the most action: the implied move is more than 11%, even bigger than the stock’s usual 9.5% move the past year.