Benzinga | Jan 26, 2022 12:34PM EST

This Is What Whales Are Betting On IBM

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

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 IBM, 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 11 uncommon options trades for IBM.

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 special options we uncovered, 5 are puts, for a total amount of $1,253,780, and 6 are calls, for a total amount of $414,075.

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 $125.0 to $155.0 for IBM over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for IBM options trades today is 1006.3 with a total volume of 3,158.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for IBM's big money trades within a strike price range of $125.0 to $155.0 over the last 30 days.

IBM 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 InterestIBM PUT TRADE BEARISH 03/18/ $140.00 $684.0K 395 945 22IBM PUT TRADE BEARISH 06/17/ $125.00 $360.5K 683 714 22IBM CALL SWEEP BULLISH 01/20/ $135.00 $211.9K 1.5K 402 23IBM PUT TRADE BEARISH 01/28/ $141.00 $96.6K 593 364 22IBM PUT SWEEP BEARISH 02/18/ $132.00 $64.8K 88 216 22

Where Is IBM Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 3,603,104, the price of IBM is up 0.22% at $136.4.

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

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 82 days.

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.