It's both retail and institutional. Retail traders can't swing that kind of volume in the underlying shares, no. But retail call buying as a proportion of tota

It's both retail and institutional. Retail traders can't swing that kind of volume in the underlying shares, no. But retail call buying as a proportion of total equity options volume is up massively in the past two years. The trading leverage inherent to retail call options herding together combined with the requirement for market makers to hedge the options they sell induces these huge movements. From there, momentum traders exacerbate the spark that's already lit.