Moderna Up Over 8% On Strong Options Volume

Moderna Inc MRNA is having a strong start to the week, up more than 7% Monday on heavy volume. Thus far, the stock has traded over 11 million shares versus its 10 day average of 8 million.

What Happened: The stock received positive news late last week as it was granted authorization for booster doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by the U.S. Food. and Drug Administration.

SEE ALSO: Why Moderna Shares Continue To Climb Higher Today

Options traders have continued the bullish momentum trading more than 190,000 contracts on the day (see below).

Looking at the data, of the 190,000+ options traded approximately 152,000 were calls with only 38,000+ puts, meaning 80% of all options traded today were calls.

Why It Matters: Prior to Monday, Moderna had 372,000 calls and 359,000 puts for a total of 731,000 options. Thus, today's 190,000+ options represent a 25% increase in one day.

Any time you have a 25% increase in the total options in one day, it shows options traders are highly active in the stock. Combine that heavy activity with 80% of them being calls, and you have short-term bullish pressure on the stock.

What's Next: Looking at the Nov. 26 expiry, the largest strikes by volume and open interest are the $280 and $300 strikes with interest slowly trailing off above the $305 and $310 strikes (image below).

Short term this suggests option traders are targeting the $310 as their "moonshot" price for the week and see $280 as potential support. Below $280, there is solid interest down to $270 but drops materially below that.

Meanwhile, any moves above $300 may start to wane as it gets into the $305 and $310 strikes.

But, if strong option flows continue like this for the week, you might start to see more interest build above the $300 strike, which could pull the prices higher.

Photo: Ian Hutchinson via Unsplash