Beyond Meat's 460% Surge in This Week Leaves Short Sellers and Put-Options Whale Suffer Big Losses

Monta HONG CFA joined discussion · Oct 22 04:26

What a insane week. $Beyond Meat (BYND.US)$ just pulled off one of the wildest rally I've seen in ages, over 460% surge in 2 days and it keeps going up and hits $6 in the overnight trading. If you were holding short-dated calls, there's a good chance you woke up to in-the-money gains. If you were short puts… well, that story looked very different.

Beyond Meat Quote

What Sparked the Rally

Beyond Meat kept the momentum powered by news that Walmart will expand distribution of several Beyond products to 2,000+ stores. The six-pack Beyond Burger (a lower price point), Beyond Chicken Pieces, and Korean BBQ–style steak are rolling onto shelves.

Beyond Meat Products

The rally intensified after the company's inclusion in Roundhill Investments' MEME ETF, which spurred retail participation and pushed Tuesday's trading volume above 1.7 billion shares.

Short sellers suffered significant losses amid surging borrow fees, even as Beyond Meat continues to grapple with profitability challenges and mounting competition.

An options whale bought this week expired's $2 puts for $1.12 per contract , spending toal $1.73 million in premium. With BYND surging, those puts marked down to about $0.13 per contract — an 88% drawdown — and there are only two days left until expiration. That’s the risk of near-term long options: when you’re wrong on direction and timing, decay plus implied volatility shifts can hit fast and hard.

Beyond Meat Unusual Options Activity

Beyond Meat Options Chain Analysis

Options volume exploded to about 2.53 million contracts yesterday, a new record high for BYND.

Put/call volume ratio sat near 0.34 — that's a bullish skew (more calls trading than puts).

Beyond Meat Options Volume and Put-Call Ratio

The 3-month put/call open interest ratio (orange curve) dropped to its lowest in a year. Positioning is leaning bullish.

Beyond Meat Put/Call Open Interest Ratio

Most traded options in Tuesday: this week expired's $3 calls, followed by $2.5 and $2 calls. Some traders even reached for $5.5 calls.

Beyond Meat Most Traded Options

– Open interest Map: Outstanding options contracts is stacked in this week expired's $1, $1.5, and $2 calls, plus $1 puts.

Beyond Meat Open Interest Expired This Friday

Bottom Line

Options on $Beyond Meat (BYND.US)$ are a trader's playground right now — big volume, strong call skew, and fast-moving price.

If you want in, Trade small amount of money on it. Keep it small, define your risk, and be willing to take profits quickly.

If you're playing the long side in short-dated options, think day trade: get your fill, manage the move, and consider heading flat by the close. Overnight risk can undo a great read fast.

The options whale who loss 88% mentioned above already reminded us: Near-expiry contracts are risky. If you’re gonna play, show up with a plan—entry, exit, size, and max pain. Or just select the longer expiration date contracts. Don't let the market write it for you.

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