$1,180,000,000 in off-exchange trades - and this time the numbers connect to a much bigger picture 🤫
$INTC 📡
If you hold Intel stock, the dark pool activity (off-exchange trades) of the past few days deserves serious attention:
August 11, 2026: $1.18 billion in dark pool at a price of $97.7 per share.
On the same day, 12 million Intel shares traded in the dark pool at $97.7 - approximately $1.18 billion, which is about 10.81% of the average daily trading volume.
And it wasn't a low-volume day; a total of about 164 million shares were traded that day.
Intel opened around $96.78, traded in a range of $95.35 - $98.35, and closed exactly at $97.71.
And the most interesting data point:
$97.7 has not been tested since.
Instead of falling back below this level, the stock rose in subsequent trading and maintained higher prices.
Now, let's look at the history:
We embarked on a journey following unusual dark pool prints in Intel over recent years, and what happened afterward,
The results are very interesting!
And every time a figure of hundreds of millions of dollars up to a billion dollars or more appears around a key price, it's worth paying attention.
December 20, 2025 - A dark pool print of approximately $1.4 billion was recorded at a price of $36.82.
Subsequently, Intel surged to $54.
January 28, 2026 - Approximately $500 million in dark pool trades were printed at a price of $48.78. This involved about 11.33 million shares, representing approximately 10.34% of the average trading volume.
Here, we didn't immediately see a sharp upward move. The stock went through a period of volatility and even declined afterward.
But a few months later, the big move came.
April 29, 2026 - Another dark pool print, exceeding $1.1 billion, was recorded at a price of $84.52.
Here, friends, it gets particularly interesting.
A look at the chart reveals something very interesting: for 3 days, Intel's stock price hovered around this $84.52 price area, and then on the 29th, it was exactly the closing price, but right there, a very sharp upward move occurred.
So if we look at the sequence: $36.82 - $1.4 billion in dark pool - move to $54. $48.78 - approximately $500 million in dark pool - subsequently Intel reaches $84.52. $84.52 - over $1.1 billion in dark pool - subsequently the stock surges to new highs.
And now:
$97.71 - $1.18 billion in dark pool.
But this time, there are two more puzzle pieces that make the event much more interesting.
On the same day the dark pool trade appeared, Intel upsized and priced its $20 billion stock offering at $95 per share.
The offering was oversubscribed, meaning there was much more demand for shares than the company offered.
And this is important.
An institution that received an allocation in the offering can certainly continue to build a position in the secondary market. Therefore, additional dark pool activity near the offering price could align with a situation where institutional entities continue to accumulate shares beyond their allocation.
And finally, another point that is hard to ignore: on the same day, CEO Lip-Bu Tan purchased 105,263 shares at $95 per share, through a family employee association.
Transaction value: $10 million in cash.
That is, exactly at the same price at which institutions participated in the offering.
Now connect the three events: $1.18 billion in dark pool at $97.71. $20 billion capital raise at $95, which was oversubscribed. $10 million purchase by the CEO at $95.
Three puzzle pieces meeting at almost the same price area.
And this is exactly what makes $97.71 a level worth watching.
Not because every dark pool trade is necessarily a buy; it's not.
Dark pool does not reveal with certainty who bought and who sold. Therefore, it's impossible to determine from the trade alone that it constitutes 'accumulation'.
But when looking at Intel's history, a recurring phenomenon is observed:
Huge prints in key price areas have repeatedly appeared before significant upward moves.
This time we are seeing $1.18 billion at $97.71, with this level remaining as support since, and concurrently there is a massive institutional offering at $95 and a $10 million CEO purchase at the same price.
If the historical pattern repeats, it is very possible that $97.71 is not the price where the move ended, but rather the price where big money started leaving traces.
In the dark pool, there's no smoke without fire, and the question now is whether another Intel rocket is hidden behind this smoke...
Disclosure: some of the data was published in recent days on our premium channel, and today, options data from today was also published there. We continue to piece together the full puzzle daily on this topic on the premium channel.