Decoding Taiwan Semiconductor's Options Activity: What's the Big Picture?

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bullish stance on Taiwan Semiconductor TSM.

And retail traders should know.

We noticed this today when the positions showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.

Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with TSM, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 8 options trades for Taiwan Semiconductor.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 50% bullish and 50%, bearish.

Out of all of the options we uncovered, there was 1 put, for a total amount of $218,240, and 7, calls, for a total amount of $570,267.

Projected Price Targets

Based on the trading activity, it appears that the significant investors are aiming for a price territory stretching from $80.0 to $110.0 for Taiwan Semiconductor over the recent three months.

Insights into Volume & Open Interest

Looking at the volume and open interest is an insightful way to conduct due diligence on a stock.

This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Taiwan Semiconductor's options for a given strike price.

Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of Taiwan Semiconductor's whale activity within a strike price range from $80.0 to $110.0 in the last 30 days.

Taiwan Semiconductor Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

About Taiwan Semiconductor

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is the world's largest dedicated chip foundry, with almost 60% market share. TSMC was founded in 1987 as a joint venture of Philips, the government of Taiwan, and private investors. It went public as an ADR in the U.S. in 1997. TSMC's scale and high-quality technology allow the firm to generate solid operating margins, even in the highly competitive foundry business. Furthermore, the shift to the fabless business model has created tailwinds for TSMC. The foundry leader has an illustrious customer base, including Apple, AMD, and Nvidia, that looks to apply cutting-edge process technologies to its semiconductor designs. TSMC employs more than 73,000 people.

After a thorough review of the options trading surrounding Taiwan Semiconductor, we move to examine the company in more detail. This includes an assessment of its current market status and performance.

Taiwan Semiconductor's Current Market Status

• Trading volume stands at 2,193,987, with TSM's price down by -0.36%, positioned at $96.66.
• RSI indicators show the stock to be may be approaching overbought.
• Earnings announcement expected in 37 days.

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 Taiwan Semiconductor, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.