Benzinga | Dec 17, 2021 12:22PM EST

This Is What Whales Are Betting On Microsoft

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

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 MSFT, 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 43 uncommon options trades for Microsoft.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 30% bullish and 69%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 16 are puts, for a total amount of $621,172, and 27 are calls, for a total amount of $1,983,124.

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 $220.0 to $350.0 for Microsoft over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Microsoft options trades today is 4487.26 with a total volume of 26,328.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Microsoft's big money trades within a strike price range of $220.0 to $350.0 over the last 30 days.

Microsoft 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 InterestMSFT CALL SWEEP BEARISH 01/21/ $310.00 $252.4K 10.1K 245 22MSFT CALL TRADE BEARISH 09/16/ $320.00 $204.0K 6.8K 183 22MSFT CALL TRADE BEARISH 01/21/ $310.00 $158.2K 10.1K 86 22MSFT CALL TRADE BULLISH 06/17/ $295.00 $149.6K 1.1K 37 22MSFT CALL SWEEP BEARISH 12/17/ $320.00 $136.0K 9.5K 3.2K 21

Where Is Microsoft Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 15,943,276.00, the price of MSFT is down -0.44% at $323.45.

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

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 39 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.