Benzinga | Dec 13, 2021 02:23PM EST

Looking At Novavax's Recent Whale Trades

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX).

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 NVAX, 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 23 uncommon options trades for Novavax.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 43.48% bullish and 56.52%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 14 are puts, for a total amount of $611,140.00, and 9 are calls, for a total amount of $351,410.00.

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 $80.0 to $300.0 for Novavax over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

Looking at the volume and open interest is a powerful move while trading options. This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Novavax'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 Novavax's whale trades within a strike price range from $80.0 to $300.0 in the last 30 days.

Novavax 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 InterestNVAX PUT TRADE BULLISH 12/23/ $150.00 $91.0K 125 115 21NVAX PUT SWEEP BULLISH 01/21/ $300.00 $80.1K 157 6 22NVAX CALL TRADE BEARISH 01/21/ $180.00 $80.0K 4.1K 127 22NVAX PUT SWEEP BULLISH 12/23/ $210.00 $78.0K 24 17 21NVAX CALL TRADE BULLISH 04/14/ $175.00 $49.0K 615 38 22

Where Is Novavax Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 2,130,593.00, the price of NVAX is up 3.41% at $172.24.

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

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 77 days.

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.