Benzinga | Jan 25, 2022 02:07PM EST

Looking At American Express's Recent Whale Trades

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on American Express (NYSE:AXP).

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 AXP, 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 American Express.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 20% bullish and 80%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 4 are puts, for a total amount of $197,170, and 6 are calls, for a total amount of $286,405.

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 $120.0 to $220.0 for American Express over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for American Express options trades today is 964.78 with a total volume of 8,873.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for American Express's big money trades within a strike price range of $120.0 to $220.0 over the last 30 days.

American Express 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 InterestAXP PUT SWEEP BEARISH 01/20/ $120.00 $74.7K 448 357 23AXP CALL SWEEP BEARISH 03/18/ $190.00 $60.9K 1.6K 520 22AXP CALL TRADE BULLISH 02/18/ $185.00 $60.0K 412 478 22AXP CALL SWEEP BEARISH 01/28/ $170.00 $58.4K 1.6K 4.5K 22AXP PUT SWEEP BEARISH 03/18/ $155.00 $51.1K 2.5K 767 22

Where Is American Express Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 8,338,602, the price of AXP is up 7.15% at $170.29.

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

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 0 days.

What The Experts Say On American Express:

* Barclays has decided to maintain their Equal-Weight rating on American Express, which currently sits at a price target of $182.

* JP Morgan has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on American Express, which currently sits at a price target of $198.

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.