Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on McDonald's (NYSE:MCD).
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 MCD, 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 33 uncommon options trades for McDonald's.
This isn't normal.
The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 24% bullish and 75%, bearish.
Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 15 are puts, for a total amount of $1,947,082, and 18 are calls, for a total amount of $744,766.
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 $120.0 to $350.0 for McDonald's over the last 3 months.
Volume & Open Interest Development
In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for McDonald's options trades today is 965.83 with a total volume of 4,117.00.
In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for McDonald's's big money trades within a strike price range of $120.0 to $350.0 over the last 30 days.
McDonald's Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days
Biggest Options Spotted:
| Symbol | PUT/CALL | Trade Type | Sentiment | Exp. Date | Strike Price | Total Trade Price | Open Interest | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCD | PUT | SWEEP | BEARISH | 11/18/22 | $270.00 | $993.0K | 1.0K | 300 |
| MCD | PUT | SWEEP | BEARISH | 10/21/22 | $230.00 | $215.8K | 2.0K | 9 |
| MCD | PUT | SWEEP | BEARISH | 10/21/22 | $225.00 | $87.3K | 867 | 292 |
| MCD | PUT | SWEEP | BEARISH | 10/21/22 | $232.50 | $86.6K | 186 | 217 |
| MCD | CALL | TRADE | NEUTRAL | 11/18/22 | $250.00 | $80.6K | 1.4K | 291 |
Where Is McDonald's Standing Right Now?
- With a volume of 2,283,502, the price of MCD is down -1.09% at $234.35.
- RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be oversold.
- Next earnings are expected to be released in 27 days.
What The Experts Say On McDonald's:
- Piper Sandler has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on McDonald's, which currently sits at a price target of $270.
- Stephens & Co. downgraded its action to Overweight with a price target of $280
- Citigroup has decided to maintain their Neutral rating on McDonald's, which currently sits at a price target of $246.
- Bernstein downgraded its action to Market Perform with a price target of $267
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 McDonald's, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.
