When institutional capital leaves a giant footprint in a thinly traded regional bank, it's wise to pay attention. On July 31, 2026, the options market for First Internet Bancorp (NASDAQ: INBK) registered a historic flow anomaly. Call option volume surged past 4,900 contracts in a single session. For an equity that typically trades around 20 contracts a day, that represents a volume expansion of more than 22,000%.
Options activity of this magnitude usually signals one of two things: trapped short sellers aggressively covering their positions or institutional whales positioning for a structural fundamental re-rating. Given that short interest is muted at 2.3% of the outstanding float, a short squeeze is highly unlikely.
