Options Traders Are Gearing Up For Pershing Square Deal

Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd. PSTH stock is down 25% from its Feb. 16 all-time high of $34.10.

Investors have become impatient waiting for the blank-check company to find or announce an acquisition target.

Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square, wrote a number of tweets last month that hinted an acquisition announcement was on the horizon, but the first quarter of 2021 closed without news on the stock.

Surely Ackman has a strategy for the delay, and this week a few options traders made some large bets that a Pershing Square Merger might be announced soon.

The Pershing Square Trades: At 1:52 p.m., Monday, a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 252 Pershing Square options with a $20 strike price expiring on June 18. The trade represented a $130,788 bullish bet for which the trader paid $5.19 per option contract.

At 3:54 p.m., Monday, a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 567 Pershing Square options with a $30 strike price expiring on July 16. The trade represented a $113,400 bullish bet for which the trader paid $2 per option contract.

At 10:17 a.m., Tuesday a trader executed a call sweep at the ask of 278 Pershing Square options with a $40 strike price expiring on Dec. 17. The trade represented a $76,450 bullish bet for which the trader paid $2.75 per option contract.

At 2:43 p.m., Thursday a trader executed a call sweep near the ask of 209 Pershing Square options with a $120 strike price expiring on April 16. The trade represented a $108,680 bullish bet for which the trader paid $5.20 per option contract.

The traders are together betting $429,318 the share price of Pershing Square is going higher.

Why It’s Important: When a sweep order occurs, it indicates the trader wanted to get into a position quickly and is anticipating an imminent large move in stock price. A sweeper pays market price for the call option instead of placing a bid, which sweeps the order book of multiple exchanges to fill the order immediately.

These types of call option orders are usually made by institutions, and retail investors can find watching for sweepers useful because it indicates “smart money” has entered into a position.

PSTH Price Action: Shares of Pershing Square were down 0.99% at $25.10 at last check Friday.