Benzinga | Jan 6, 2022 11:43AM EST

Check Out What Whales Are Doing With MPC

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC).

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

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 11 options trades for Marathon Petroleum.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 36% bullish and 63%, bearish.

Out of all of the options we uncovered, there was 1 put, for a total amount of $34,845, and 10, calls, for a total amount of $1,855,880..

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 $30.0 to $70.0 for Marathon Petroleum over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Marathon Petroleum options trades today is 9058.67 with a total volume of 11,102.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Marathon Petroleum's big money trades within a strike price range of $30.0 to $70.0 over the last 30 days.

Marathon Petroleum 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 InterestMPC CALL SWEEP NEUTRAL 01/21/ $67.50 $1.4M 40.0K 6.5K 22MPC CALL TRADE BULLISH 01/21/ $67.50 $71.5K 40.0K 727 22MPC CALL TRADE BULLISH 01/21/ $67.50 $54.3K 40.0K 917 22MPC CALL TRADE BEARISH 04/14/ $70.00 $43.2K 8.8K 102 22MPC CALL TRADE NEUTRAL 01/21/ $30.00 $39.6K 430 10 22

Where Is Marathon Petroleum Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 2,401,430, the price of MPC is up 1.8% at $69.47.

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

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 27 days.

What The Experts Say On Marathon Petroleum:

* Cowen & Co. has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Marathon Petroleum, which currently sits at a price target of $75.

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.