Benzinga | Jan 25, 2022 11:38AM EST

This Is What Whales Are Betting On Qualcomm

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

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 QCOM, 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 13 uncommon options trades for Qualcomm.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 0% bullish and 100%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 8 are puts, for a total amount of $516,058, and 5 are calls, for a total amount of $227,772.

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 $135.0 to $175.0 for Qualcomm over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Qualcomm options trades today is 1530.0 with a total volume of 4,970.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Qualcomm's big money trades within a strike price range of $135.0 to $175.0 over the last 30 days.

Qualcomm 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 InterestQCOM PUT SWEEP BEARISH 01/20/ $135.00 $147.5K 4.7K 599 23QCOM PUT SWEEP BEARISH 01/20/ $135.00 $95.0K 4.7K 450 23QCOM CALL SWEEP BEARISH 01/28/ $170.00 $87.0K 1.3K 899 22QCOM PUT SWEEP NEUTRAL 01/20/ $135.00 $81.6K 4.7K 660 23QCOM PUT SWEEP BEARISH 01/20/ $135.00 $43.9K 4.7K 217 23

Where Is Qualcomm Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 2,594,794, the price of QCOM is down -2.46% at $165.88.

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

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 8 days.

What The Experts Say On Qualcomm:

* Keybanc has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Qualcomm, which currently sits at a price target of $220.

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.