United Rentals Hits 87% Calls Within 4% of Its 52-Week High as Dark Pools Fade, Herc at 95% Calls: GTA Terminal Data for Contractors Who Rent (November 11-12, 2026)
For contractors who rent excavators, lifts and generators instead of owning them, the two largest public rental companies are a window into rental rates and fleet availability. GTA Terminal data from Global Traders Academy for November 11 and 12, 2026 shows options money in both United Rentals and Herc leaning heavily to calls, with United Rentals trading within 4% of its 52-week high.
United Rentals: call money builds again
The GTA Wire report on the United Rentals call lean, published at 11:55 AM ET on Thursday, Nov 12, shows:
Price: $1,154.89, up 0.4% on the day.
Premium: $1.2M by late morning, with $1.0M in calls and $152K in puts, so 87% of the money was in calls.
Put/call volume ratio: 1.51, meaning more put contracts than call contracts traded, even though calls took most of the dollars. Bigger call orders and smaller put orders produce that pattern.
Trend: uptrend, above the 50-day and 200-day averages, 4% below the 52-week high, RSI 57. Support is the 20-day average at $1,115.86, 3.4% below; resistance is $1,202.12, 4.1% above.
The dollar-versus-contract split is a good example of why GTA's guide on reading the dollar split between calls and puts matters. Ours is the third straight call-leaning read this week: on Nov 11 we covered United Rentals rebounding with 74% of its options money in calls, and before that an 80% call read.
Dark pool volume, by contrast, has faded. Off-exchange shares fell from 337,984 on Nov 5 to 134,995 on Nov 11, when they were 30.7% of volume, below the five-session average of 36%. The options money is bullish, but big share buyers are not adding to it off the exchanges. Live price and history are on the United Rentals quote page.
Herc: 95% calls, dark pools back to normal share
The Herc dark pool check for Wednesday's session shows 213,143 shares traded off-exchange on Nov 11, 0.6x the 20-session average but 43.3% of volume, up from 36.8% on Nov 10 and above the period average of 42%. In the latest scan, 95% of Herc's options premium went to calls. The trend is up, 9% below the 52-week high, with an RSI of 69, close to overbought.
What it means for contractors who rent
Rental rates: investors betting on the big rental companies are betting their pricing holds. Contractors should not plan on rental rates softening into the spring season.
Availability: strong rental demand can tighten fleets for popular units at peak times. Lock in long-term rentals for key machines before the season starts.
Rent or buy: when a machine is on rent for much of the year, the payment on a financed unit often comes in below the rental bill. Firm rental pricing makes that math easier to run in favor of owning.
Mixed signals: fading dark pool volume in United Rentals and a near-overbought RSI in Herc are reasons not to read too much into one more call-heavy day.
Caution: a signal, not a guarantee
Part-session options data and one day of off-exchange volume describe where money moved, not why. They are a signal, not a guarantee, and this is not investment advice. Both companies' flow is followed on rental-stock flow data from Global Traders Academy.
See also our earlier look at United Rentals and Ryder and the rent-or-lease choice.
If the rental bills on your busiest machines are adding up, BFC Equipment Loans can show you what owning would cost each month. Compare it with an equipment loan from BFC.
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