What Are Whales Doing With Alcoa

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Alcoa AA.

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 AA, 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 23 uncommon options trades for Alcoa.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 47% bullish and 52%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 10 are puts, for a total amount of $947,745, and 13 are calls, for a total amount of $960,891.

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 $55.0 to $85.0 for Alcoa over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Alcoa options trades today is 3499.88 with a total volume of 11,736.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Alcoa's big money trades within a strike price range of $55.0 to $85.0 over the last 30 days.

Alcoa Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

Where Is Alcoa Standing Right Now?

• With a volume of 7,163,029, the price of AA is up 2.41% at $72.89.
• RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be approaching overbought.
• Next earnings are expected to be released in 62 days.

What The Experts Say On Alcoa:

• BMO Capital has decided to maintain their Market Perform rating on Alcoa, which currently sits at a price target of $65.
• Credit Suisse has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on Alcoa, which currently sits at a price target of $68.
• Morgan Stanley has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Alcoa, which currently sits at a price target of $65.
• B. Riley Securities has decided to maintain their Neutral rating on Alcoa, which currently sits at a price target of $55.

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.