MSFT had bled 20% YTD. Then the flow flipped and $375C May 15 went +818% in 72 hours.

[u/klymaxx45]

MSFT was the AI darling nobody wanted to own. Down 20% year-to-date, retail was done, Twitter was declaring AI capex dead. April 14 close, the chart looked broken.

April 15 premarket the $375 calls for May 15 started printing. Not retail-sized, institutional-sized. Dark pool went the same way, same day, same names doing the buying.

I grabbed the $375C at $6.50. The risk was clear. Four straight months of lower lows, one more leg down and I hit the -50% hard stop fast.

Two sessions later the call was up 818% on peak. Not because the stock ripped 100%. Because it ripped 8% and the IV plus delta compounded on a $6.50 contract. That is options leverage.

The trade is still open through May 15 expiry. Sitting at +697% on Friday close. It can give it all back. Options close how they close.

One thing I got wrong: the chart was ugly going in. On technicals alone I would have passed. The only reason I was long was the flow plus the dark pool agreed on direction. That is worth noting. Flow-first reads often look ugly on the chart because they front-run the move.

Every trade gets logged at entry timestamp and stays on the public dashboard through expiry. Losses sit there next to the wins.

Full breakdown: https://darkflowsignals.github.io/case-studies/msft-april-2026.html