Benzinga | Nov 3, 2021 12:28PM EDT

This Is What Whales Are Betting On Nike

Someone with a lot of money to spend (and possibly insider knowledge) has taken a bearish stance on Nike (NYSE:NKE).

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 NKE, 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 31 uncommon options trades for Nike.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 29.03% bullish and 70.97%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 6 are puts, for a total amount of $488,555, and 25 are calls, for a total amount of $1,896,028.

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 $130.0 to $190.0 for Nike 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 Nike'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 Nike's whale activity within a strike price range from $130.0 to $190.0 in the last 30 days.

Nike 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 InterestNKE CALL TRADE BEARISH 12/17/ $170.00 $292.5K 6.7K 592 21NKE PUT SWEEP NEUTRAL 01/19/ $155.00 $175.1K 134 84 24NKE CALL SWEEP BULLISH 12/17/ $170.00 $165.0K 6.7K 3.4K 21NKE CALL TRADE BEARISH 01/20/ $160.00 $140.2K 6.7K 156 23NKE CALL TRADE BEARISH 01/20/ $160.00 $140.0K 6.7K 52 23

Where Is Nike Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 3,462,175, the price of NKE is up 1.79% at $170.84.

* RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be overbought.

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 44 days.

What The Experts Say On Nike:

* Goldman Sachs downgraded its action to Buy with a price target of $172.0

* Wedbush downgraded its action to Outperform with a price target of $170.0

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.