Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bullish stance on Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA).
And retail traders should know.
We noticed this today when the trades showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.
Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with MRNA, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.
So how do we know what these investors just did?
Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 10 uncommon options trades for Moderna.
This isn't normal.
The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 70% bullish and 10%, bearish.
Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 4 are puts, for a total amount of $203,756, and 6 are calls, for a total amount of $250,820.
Projected Price Targets
Analyzing the Volume and Open Interest in these contracts, it seems that the big players have been eyeing a price window from $50.0 to $190.0 for Moderna during the past quarter.
Volume & Open Interest Trends
Looking at the volume and open interest is a powerful move while trading options. This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Moderna's options for a given strike price. Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of Moderna's whale trades within a strike price range from $50.0 to $190.0 in the last 30 days.
Moderna Call and Put Volume: 30-Day Overview
Largest Options Trades Observed:
| Symbol | PUT/CALL | Trade Type | Sentiment | Exp. Date | Ask | Bid | Price | Strike Price | Total Trade Price | Open Interest | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MRNA | PUT | TRADE | NEUTRAL | 06/07/24 | $4.8 | $4.55 | $4.68 | $130.00 | $93.6K | 327 | 200 |
| MRNA | CALL | SWEEP | BULLISH | 05/17/24 | $25.75 | $23.1 | $25.4 | $105.00 | $88.8K | 993 | 35 |
| MRNA | CALL | TRADE | BULLISH | 07/19/24 | $5.8 | $5.65 | $5.8 | $140.00 | $58.0K | 2.9K | 105 |
| MRNA | PUT | SWEEP | BULLISH | 07/19/24 | $6.25 | $5.05 | $5.2 | $125.00 | $54.9K | 1.9K | 30 |
| MRNA | PUT | SWEEP | BULLISH | 09/20/24 | $1.91 | $1.73 | $1.73 | $95.00 | $28.3K | 1.6K | 172 |
About Moderna
Moderna is a commercial-stage biotech that was founded in 2010 and had its initial public offering in December 2018. The firm's mRNA technology was rapidly validated with its COVID-19 vaccine, which was authorized in the United States in December 2020. Moderna had 39 mRNA development candidates in clinical trials as of mid-2023. Programs span a wide range of therapeutic areas, including infectious disease, oncology, cardiovascular disease, and rare genetic diseases.
Following our analysis of the options activities associated with Moderna, we pivot to a closer look at the company's own performance.
Present Market Standing of Moderna
- With a volume of 876,007, the price of MRNA is down -0.14% at $132.5.
- RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be overbought.
- Next earnings are expected to be released in 76 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.