Benzinga | Dec 21, 2021 10:32AM EST

This Is What Whales Are Betting On Moderna

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

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 MRNA, 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 12 uncommon options trades for Moderna.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 33% bullish and 66%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 7 are puts, for a total amount of $279,831, and 5 are calls, for a total amount of $218,226.

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 $230.0 to $360.0 for Moderna over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Moderna options trades today is 1976.92 with a total volume of 3,295.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Moderna's big money trades within a strike price range of $230.0 to $360.0 over the last 30 days.

Moderna 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 InterestMRNA CALL SWEEP BEARISH 01/20/ $250.00 $63.6K 742 21 23MRNA CALL TRADE BULLISH 01/21/ $320.00 $50.7K 5.6K 773 22MRNA PUT TRADE NEUTRAL 12/31/ $275.00 $49.2K 192 53 21MRNA PUT TRADE NEUTRAL 01/21/ $230.00 $48.0K 5.4K 120 22MRNA CALL SWEEP BEARISH 12/23/ $310.00 $47.3K 1.2K 296 21

Where Is Moderna Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 3,194,048, the price of MRNA is down -5.05% at $262.43.

* RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 65 days.

What The Experts Say On Moderna:

* Cowen & Co. downgraded its action to Market Perform with a price target of $250

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.