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Crude oil is back above $90 and energy stocks in the S&P 500 index are approaching fresh 52-week highs as the group’s year-to-date rally surpasses 40%.
Despite energy stocks holding the title as the best-performing sector in the S&P 500 in 2026, options traders seem unconvinced the strength in conventional energy assets will continue. Instead, they’re piling into Bloom Energy, the $82-billion market-cap power provider that sells onsite fuel-cell systems linked to data centers and artificial intelligence industrialization.
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Bloom Energy in 2026
Bloom is up 1,800% over the past three years. Shares jumped more than 10% Tuesday as options trading on the stock surged to over 2.5 times the 30-day average for a total premium exchange of almost half a billion dollars by midday, according to data from Cboe LiveVol and SpotGamma. That’s more than the $350 million traded in SpaceX options and dwarfs the $25 million traded in Valero Energy, the most volatile S&P 500 energy stock.
Shares of Bloom are up more than 30% in the past week, and they have surged almost 70% since the company reported earnings in late July. The company will join the S&P 500 on Sept. 21, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced at the end of last week.
The inclusion will mark the first time an energy stock has been added to the index since 2022, according to UBS analyst Manav Gupta. From an options standpoint, Bloom will stand out among S&P energy stocks in a big way.
Implied volatility in Bloom is currently over 90%, according to ThinkOrSwim, notably higher than any S&P 500 energy stocks. In that group, Valero has the highest volatility at 50%, compared to ExxonMobil’s 30% reading. The most popular contract in Bloom by volume Tuesday was the 300-strike call expiring Friday, a $4.65 trade that needs the stock to add another 8% to break even.
By contrast, options flows around the U.S. Oil Fund (USO) and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) were mixed. Trading volume was 50% above the 30-day average in USO, which traded around $90 million. Almost the exact same number of put contracts were likely bought as calls, and the three most popular contracts by volume were puts, according to SpotGamma data.
In XLE, 48,000 calls were likely bought, compared to 34,000 puts, with $31 million of the total $37 million in premium tied to calls. Among the top five contracts traded in XLE, three were puts, according to SpotGamma.
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