Benzinga | Dec 16, 2021 01:20PM EST

What Are Whales Doing With Barrick Gold

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD).

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 GOLD, 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 10 uncommon options trades for Barrick Gold.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 10% bullish and 90%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 5 are puts, for a total amount of $227,777, and 5 are calls, for a total amount of $179,020.

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 $17.0 to $23.0 for Barrick Gold 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 Barrick Gold'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 Barrick Gold's whale activity within a strike price range from $17.0 to $23.0 in the last 30 days.

Barrick Gold 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 InterestGOLD PUT SWEEP BEARISH 06/17/ $22.00 $106.5K 1.5K 1 22GOLD CALL TRADE BEARISH 06/17/ $23.00 $43.4K 4.6K 3 22GOLD CALL TRADE BEARISH 01/19/ $17.00 $42.0K 750 209 24GOLD CALL TRADE BEARISH 01/19/ $17.00 $40.5K 750 109 24GOLD PUT SWEEP BEARISH 01/21/ $18.00 $34.8K 6.9K 3.5K 22

Where Is Barrick Gold Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 13,057,864.00, the price of GOLD is up 4.36% at $18.42.

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

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 63 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.