Apple Unusual Options Activity

Author: Benzinga Insights | March 21, 2023 10:17am

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).

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 AAPL, 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 40 uncommon options trades for Apple.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 32% bullish and 67%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 10 are puts, for a total amount of $613,665, and 30 are calls, for a total amount of $1,420,034.

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 $120.0 to $195.0 for Apple over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Apple options trades today is 24675.0 with a total volume of 347,405.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Apple's big money trades within a strike price range of $120.0 to $195.0 over the last 30 days.

Apple 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
AAPL	CALL	SWEEP	NEUTRAL	05/19/23	$155.00	$145.5K	21.7K	245
AAPL	CALL	SWEEP	NEUTRAL	03/24/23	$160.00	$130.7K	35.3K	6.4K
AAPL	PUT	TRADE	BEARISH	09/20/24	$195.00	$121.0K	1	291
AAPL	PUT	TRADE	BULLISH	09/20/24	$195.00	$120.9K	1	321
AAPL	CALL	SWEEP	BULLISH	03/24/23	$160.00	$108.6K	35.3K	4.3K

Where Is Apple Standing Right Now?

• With a volume of 9,929,966, the price of AAPL is up 0.2% at $157.72.
• RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be approaching overbought.
• Next earnings are expected to be released in 37 days.

What The Experts Say On Apple:

• Jefferies downgraded its action to Buy with a price target of $195
• Goldman Sachs downgraded its action to Buy with a price target of $199
• LightShed Partners downgraded its action to Sell with a price target of $120
• Wedbush has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Apple, which currently sits at a price target of $190.
• Needham downgraded its action to Buy with a price target of $170

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 want to stay updated on the latest options trades for Apple, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.

Posted In: AAPL