Benzinga | Dec 22, 2021 02:23PM EST

Carnival Whale Trades For December 22

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Carnival (NYSE:CCL).

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 CCL, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 10 options trades for Carnival.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 30% bullish and 70%, bearish.

Out of all of the options we uncovered, there was 1 put, for a total amount of $177,983, and 9, calls, for a total amount of $699,463..

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 $19.0 to $25.0 for Carnival 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 Carnival'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 Carnival's whale activity within a strike price range from $19.0 to $25.0 in the last 30 days.

Carnival 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 InterestCCL PUT SWEEP BEARISH 01/21/ $25.00 $177.9K 35.5K 1.5K 22CCL CALL TRADE BEARISH 01/20/ $25.00 $157.5K 37.1K 674 23CCL CALL SWEEP BULLISH 02/18/ $22.50 $135.9K 43.7K 2.1K 22CCL CALL SWEEP BULLISH 02/18/ $22.50 $117.6K 43.7K 4.1K 22CCL CALL SWEEP BEARISH 01/21/ $20.00 $60.5K 70.6K 2.2K 22

Where Is Carnival Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 42,617,535, the price of CCL is up 3.82% at $21.32.

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

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 105 days.

What The Experts Say On Carnival:

* Credit Suisse has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Carnival, which currently sits at a price target of $38.

* Goldman Sachs has decided to maintain their Neutral rating on Carnival, which currently sits at a price target of $21.

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.