Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY).
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 OXY, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.
Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 21 options trades for Occidental Petroleum.
This isn't normal.
The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 23% bullish and 76%, bearish.
Out of all of the options we uncovered, there was 1 put, for a total amount of $50,727, and 20, calls, for a total amount of $1,659,563..
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 $23.0 to $42.0 for Occidental Petroleum over the last 3 months.
Volume & Open Interest Development
In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Occidental Petroleum options trades today is 6744.83 with a total volume of 12,752.00.
In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Occidental Petroleum's big money trades within a strike price range of $23.0 to $42.0 over the last 30 days.
Occidental Petroleum Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days
Biggest Options Spotted:
| Symbol | PUT/CALL | Trade Type | Sentiment | Exp. Date | Strike Price | Total Trade Price | Open Interest | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OXY | CALL | TRADE | BEARISH | 01/19/24 | $23.00 | $180.5K | 14.3K | 1.0K |
| OXY | CALL | SWEEP | BEARISH | 01/19/24 | $23.00 | $153.9K | 14.3K | 402 |
| OXY | CALL | TRADE | BEARISH | 01/19/24 | $23.00 | $131.4K | 14.3K | 349 |
| OXY | CALL | TRADE | BEARISH | 01/19/24 | $23.00 | $113.4K | 14.3K | 543 |
| OXY | CALL | TRADE | BEARISH | 01/19/24 | $23.00 | $98.3K | 14.3K | 152 |
Where Is Occidental Petroleum Standing Right Now?
- With a volume of 6,773,761, the price of OXY is up 3.26% at $40.19.
- RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be approaching overbought.
- Next earnings are expected to be released in 73 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.
