Benzinga | Dec 20, 2021 11:37AM EST

What Are Whales Doing With JPMorgan Chase

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM).

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 JPM, 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 19 uncommon options trades for JPMorgan Chase.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 42% bullish and 57%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 9 are puts, for a total amount of $1,641,369, and 10 are calls, for a total amount of $1,355,834.

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 $175.0 for JPMorgan Chase over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for JPMorgan Chase options trades today is 3663.93 with a total volume of 5,960.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for JPMorgan Chase's big money trades within a strike price range of $80.0 to $175.0 over the last 30 days.

JPMorgan Chase 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 InterestJPM PUT TRADE BULLISH 06/16/ $145.00 $1.0M 1 600 23JPM CALL SWEEP BEARISH 01/20/ $120.00 $845.9K 3.5K 230 23JPM PUT SWEEP BEARISH 06/17/ $135.00 $356.3K 6.5K 826 22JPM CALL TRADE BULLISH 01/21/ $155.00 $90.0K 6.5K 409 22JPM CALL TRADE BEARISH 01/19/ $100.00 $82.1K 47 15 24

Where Is JPMorgan Chase Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 4,048,940, the price of JPM is down -2.92% at $152.18.

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

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 25 days.

What The Experts Say On JPMorgan Chase:

* Morgan Stanley has decided to maintain their Underweight rating on JPMorgan Chase, which currently sits at a price target of $184.

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.