Options traders are turning increasingly bullish on electric aircraft makers after President Trump called for a record $1.5 trillion US defense budget for 2027, a move that’s reviving interest in defense-adjacent aviation names.
Shares of Archer Aviation $ACHR ( ▲ 3.44% ) and Joby Aviation $JOBY ( ▼ 1.93% ) moved higher Thursday as call option activity surged, signaling traders are betting on further upside tied to military demand.
Defense exposure is the key catalyst
Both Archer and Joby have meaningful defense contracts, alongside newly public rival Beta Technologies $BETA ( ▼ 1.18% ) . Archer CEO Adam Goldstein previously told Sherwood News that the company’s defense business could outpace its civilian air taxi operations for at least the next decade, a view traders now appear to be leaning into.
Trump’s comments on boosting military spending have sharpened focus on emerging defense technologies, including electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
Options activity shows aggressive positioning
By 10:53 a.m. ET, roughly 31,000 Archer call options had traded, putting the stock within about 9,000 contracts of its full-day 20-day average. Joby saw around 20,000 call options trade by the same time, already surpassing its typical daily volume.
For the most active contracts, Joby’s $17 calls expiring February 20 and Archer’s $9 calls expiring Friday, trading skewed heavily toward the ask. That imbalance suggests buyers are aggressively paying up for exposure rather than waiting for better prices.
What it signals
The surge in call buying points to growing confidence that increased defense spending could meaningfully benefit eVTOL manufacturers, especially those already embedded in military programs. For now, options markets are clearly betting that defense demand could become a major growth driver for the sector.