ConocoPhillips Whale Trades Spotted

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on ConocoPhillips COP.

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 COP, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 21 options trades for ConocoPhillips.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 42% bullish and 57%, bearish.

Out of all of the options we uncovered, there was 1 put, for a total amount of $1,960,000, and 20, calls, for a total amount of $1,738,345..

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 $72.5 to $100.0 for ConocoPhillips over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for ConocoPhillips options trades today is 1410.4 with a total volume of 24,732.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for ConocoPhillips's big money trades within a strike price range of $72.5 to $100.0 over the last 30 days.

ConocoPhillips Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

Where Is ConocoPhillips Standing Right Now?

• With a volume of 7,656,785, the price of COP is down -0.09% at $87.03.
• RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be overbought.
• Next earnings are expected to be released in 8 days.

What The Experts Say On ConocoPhillips:

• Keybanc has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on ConocoPhillips, which currently sits at a price target of $91.
• Morgan Stanley has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on ConocoPhillips, which currently sits at a price target of $96.
• Raymond James has decided to maintain their Strong Buy rating on ConocoPhillips, which currently sits at a price target of $107.
• Scotiabank downgraded its action to Sector Perform with a price target of $90
• Goldman Sachs upgraded its action to Buy with a price target of $101

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.