Intel's stock jumped about 10% when President Trump announced that Apple was working on chips with the company. This surge pushed Intel (INTC) past a resistance level it had failed to break through twice before.
The chart showed a promising breakout. However, the cash flows, crypto traders' activities, and the options market suggest a more cautious outlook.
Why did Intel's stock skyrocket after Apple's news?
Intel Corporation (INTC) opened trading with a strong surge on Thursday. President Trump announced on Truth Social that Apple (AAPL) had agreed to plan and manufacture chips in the United States.
$INTC heads to a higher open after President Trump said $AAPL has agreed to work with #Intel on chip production. This follows strategic partnerships with $NVDA and Elon Musk’s #TeraFab. Intel also benefits from a shift towards inference and #AgenticAI workloads that increase…
— FXCM (@FXCMOfficial) June 18, 2026
However, neither company has officially confirmed the agreement so far. This is an important note, as Washington owns a stake in Intel. The U.S. government purchased about 10% of the company in August 2025.
This development caps a strong rally. Intel's stock has tripled in 2026, influenced by partnerships with Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA). Demand for Agentic AI, meaning self-operating software, has also boosted sales of Intel's chips.
Risks still exist. Intel's foundry business remains unprofitable, and the PC market is facing challenges.
$Intel Appoints Qualcomm Exec to Lead PC and Physical AI Business – Outlook TurbochargedIntel taps Qualcomm veteran for AI PC push; strong sales forecast signals CPU demand from agentic AI and inference workloads. Shares hit records. Risk: PC market decline in H2.…
— NIKVEST (@nikvestx) May 5, 2026
INTC's price chart indicates the first part.
INTC breaks the barrier that has halted the rally twice.
The price rally exceeded $132.70, a level that had rebuffed Intel twice before. This forms what's known as a double top pattern, where the price stalls at the same peak twice.
INTC's stock broke the barrier strongly. Thursday's trading volume of 233.91 million shares exceeded the previous late May rally volume in the same range.
Cash flow is also turning around. The Chaikin Money Flow (CMF), which measures institutional buying and selling pressure, has risen back to zero from negative territory. This reversal suggests selling pressure has eased and large buyers may be returning to the market.
However, CMF is neutral, not clearly positive. Buying interest has not yet fully strengthened. One market sector remains cautious.
Price and volume indicate bullish signals, but investor positioning tells a different story – starting with crypto traders.
Crypto traders continue to bet against Intel.
Crypto traders are not yet buying this price rally. On the Hyperliquid platform, which offers perpetual futures on stocks, professional traders remain net-short on Intel. Perpetual futures are contracts that track price without an expiration date.
Nansen data shows short positions amounting to $7.41 million and long positions at $2.90 million. The net short is therefore $4.51 million across 21 wallets.
Still, bets against Intel are smaller than the group’s shorts on Nvidia and Micron. The Intel long-short ratio is 0.39. The bull-bear ratio is thus the least negative among this group.
The ratio increases, indicating that some traders are reducing their shorts after Apple's news. However, the group has not shifted to net-long.
The options market also shows the same hesitation, but with slight nuances.
The options market sends a mixed message.
Intel's put-call ratio tells a divided story. It compares puts, which gain value when the stock drops, and calls, which benefit from rises. A value below one indicates bulls, while above one indicates bears.
Based on daily trading, the ratio fell from 0.68 on June 17 to 0.51 on June 18. Traders aggressively bought call options as the price rose with the gap. According to Open Interest, the ratio rose during the same period from 1.02 to 1.04. In open positions, the weighting shifted slightly more towards put options.
The split is logical. Short-term traders jumped in on the rally with call options, expecting quick follow-through. At the same time, long-term holders bought put options as a hedge against a potential failed rally.
The new flow seems to be on the bulls' side, but previous positions remain defensive. Buying put options during a price increase is classic hedging, not so much a vote of confidence. It also indicates caution.
This defensive stance is particularly emphasized as price levels come into play.
Intel stock levels that determine the price direction.
Now INTC stock levels sharpen the outlook. $132.70 forms a ceiling that aligns with a technical level of $132.63. This overlap of levels makes $132.70 a strong support level as long as it holds.
Looking up, $140.69 is the 0.618 Fibonacci level, which is historically a strong mark about five percent away. A clear breakthrough there opens the path to $152.16 and then $166.76.
The risk is a bull trap: a false breakout that lures in buyers before the price reverses. If CMF dips back below zero and market sentiment weakens, the rally could fail. A drop would expose the level at $124.58, below which lies $114.62 and deeper at $98.51. The risk remains, which is why caution is in the air across all markets.
So far, the rally is real, but still thin. The price has breached the level, but CMF is neutral, crypto traders are still net-short, and put options' Open Interest is rising. Apple's news boosted Intel's stock, but institutions or crypto traders have not yet clearly shifted to the bulls' side.
Stay above $132.70 and CMF turns positive – then the $140 zone comes into play. If the $132.70 level is lost and CMF weakens, the breakout may turn into a trap towards the $124 area.