Benzinga | Oct 26, 2021 12:38PM EDT

American Airlines Group Whale Trades Spotted

Someone with a lot of money to spend (and possibly insider knowledge) has taken a bearish stance on American Airlines Group(NASDAQ:AAL).

And retail traders should know.

We noticed this today when the big position showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.

Whether this is an institution or just a wealthy individual, we don't know. But when something this big happens with AAL, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

So how do we know what this whale just did?

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 17 uncommon options trades for American Airlines Group.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 35.29% bullish and 64.71%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 9 are puts, for a total amount of $534,391, and 8 are calls, for a total amount of $402,690.

What's The Price Target?

Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $10.0 to $24.0 for American Airlines Group over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

Looking at the volume and open interest is an insightful way to conduct due diligence on a stock.

This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for American Airlines Group's options for a given strike price.

Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of American Airlines Group's whale activity within a strike price range from $10.0 to $24.0 in the last 30 days.

American Airlines Group Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

Symbol PUT/ Trade Sentiment Exp. Strike Total Trade Open Volume CALL Type Date Price Price InterestAAL CALL SWEEP BEARISH 01/21/ $24.00 $99.3K 1.2K 4.2K 22AAL CALL SWEEP BULLISH 12/17/ $20.00 $87.2K 32.8K 1.1K 21AAL PUT SWEEP BEARISH 05/20/ $19.00 $74.6K 3.0K 1.3K 22AAL PUT SWEEP BEARISH 05/20/ $19.00 $73.3K 3.0K 2.5K 22AAL PUT SWEEP BEARISH 05/20/ $19.00 $69.9K 3.0K 2.8K 22

Where Is American Airlines Group Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 15,991,465, the price of AAL is up 2.34% at $19.68.

* RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 93 days.

What The Experts Say On American Airlines Group:

* Citigroup has decided to maintain their Neutral rating on American Airlines Group, which currently sits at a price target of $20.5.

* Goldman Sachs downgraded its action to Sell with a price target of $18.0

Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.

If you are already an options trader or would like to get started, head on over to Benzinga Pro. Benzinga Pro gives you up-to-date news and analytics to empower your investing and trading strategy.