As holiday travelers brace for long rental car lines, traders are lining up somewhere else: the options market.
Call buyers grab the keys
Shares of Hertz $HTZ ( ▼ 5.23% ) are surging after a spike in call activity sent the stock sharply higher. By late morning, more than 17,800 call contracts had already traded, well above the stock’s 20 day average of roughly 13,000. The surge in options flow helped push Hertz shares up more than 12% intraday.
Momentum takes the wheel
If the gains hold through the close, this would mark Hertz’s ninth best trading day of 2025. The move appears driven less by fresh fundamentals and more by speculative momentum, with traders betting that recent weakness has set up a short term rebound.
For now, Hertz is riding a wave of bullish positioning, even as its long term outlook remains closely tied to travel demand, pricing power, and balance sheet repair.