Benzinga | Jan 31, 2022 02:32PM EST

Freeport-McMoRan Whale Trades Spotted

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bullish stance on Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX).

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 FCX, 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 21 uncommon options trades for Freeport-McMoRan.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 57% bullish and 42%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 6 are puts, for a total amount of $250,195, and 15 are calls, for a total amount of $816,966.

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 $27.0 to $42.0 for Freeport-McMoRan over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Freeport-McMoRan options trades today is 5598.62 with a total volume of 13,766.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Freeport-McMoRan's big money trades within a strike price range of $27.0 to $42.0 over the last 30 days.

Freeport-McMoRan 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 InterestFCX CALL TRADE BULLISH 06/17/ $42.00 $103.5K 13.8K 476 22FCX CALL SWEEP BEARISH 02/18/ $36.00 $101.4K 3.7K 669 22FCX CALL SWEEP BULLISH 03/04/ $40.00 $86.1K 85 7 22FCX PUT TRADE BEARISH 02/18/ $33.00 $82.5K 4.9K 1.5K 22FCX CALL TRADE BULLISH 02/11/ $38.00 $81.0K 235 1.0K 22

Where Is Freeport-McMoRan Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 12,582,157, the price of FCX is up 2.96% at $37.1.

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

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 80 days.

What The Experts Say On Freeport-McMoRan:

* Deutsche Bank has decided to maintain their Hold rating on Freeport-McMoRan, which currently sits at a price target of $40.

* Raymond James has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Freeport-McMoRan, which currently sits at a price target of $49.

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.