Dirty Oil and Gene Therapy
Notable Flow 10/3
Good afternoon folks - quick one for you guys today as the team is quite busy and Jon is on vacation so let’s knock this out, shall we?
Notable Flow:
CRSP 0.00%↑ 50C STO 1/17exp
MPC 0.00%↑ 170C 2/21exp
VRNA 0.00%↑ 45C STO 3/21exp
CHD 0.00%↑ 95P STO 11/15exp
CRSP 0.00%↑ 50C STO 1/17/2025 Exp
Vol: 2,009 OI: 1,081 Prem: $747,995
This trader is placing a bearish bet, speculating that the stock price will stay below 50 by expiration. This order is trading with over 2k in volume at the bid and receiving credit of almost $740,000 if these calls expire worthless. You can also see the net premium plummeting as well on the right side of the chart. Nothing really much else coming out of this ticker. Most amount of options volume in the last 3 days as well.
From a chart stance, the name is very weak as of late rejecting this level of 50 for the last couple months each attempt. Also rejecting each test of the declining moving averages, continued downside seems likely, but of course, never certain. Missing on each of their previous two quarterly reports, CRSP seems to be heading the wrong direction in multiple aspects of the company overview.
MPC 0.00%↑ 170C 2/21/2025 Exp
This trader is placing a bullish bet, paying over $712,000 in premium for an 1% ITM trade that expires in 141 days. Almost all the volume is leaning to the ask side. Currently, the stock is pushing higher throughout the day as you can see the premiums also pushing to around 15.8. No sign of selling so far in this position. Very little open interest, meaning almost all premium was bought today. With all the news with the Middle East, it only make sense why all oil stocks are soaring today. MPC is an American petroleum refining, marketing and transportation company that used to be a subsidiary of Marathon Oil until a spin off in 2011.
Oil names remain a popular trade as OXY bids off the 200-week, many traders have been looking for exposure whether it is OXY directly or other Oil related companies such as MPC. The chart itself has a nice look to it as well showing a tight wedge pushing up ready for a potential break. War headlines remain correlated to the intraday moves on these names so be weary with the risk this can carry alongside price action.
VRNA 0.00%↑ 45C STO 3/21/2025 Exp
This trader is better that this stock is not heading any higher than 45 by expiration. As you can see on the left side, almost all the volume is at the bid. They will be collecting around $301k if these contracts end up expiring worthless by expiration. Stock is having a solid day, up over 7% on the day, but Mr. Whale thinks that it’s time for a pullback. In recent news, Well Fargo started coverage on them with an overweight rating and $50 price target.
VRNA is up over 69% since August 5th and has been surfing the 10-week moving average upwards each week without fail to date. Pretty vertical move with that being said this could be a safer way to play the “mean-reversion” trade. We also see somewhat of a rising wedge which can be seen as a bearish pattern.
CHD 0.00%↑ 95P STO 11/15exp
This trader is betting that the stock will not get close to 95 or lower by expiration. Over 5,517 contracts are being placed at the bid for around $1.11/contract. If the stock decides to head higher from here, by expiration this trader will collect $612k by expiration. Another highlight is the options volume being the highest in the last 30 days.
With support at 100 & 97, this trader has plenty of cushion before the chosen strike of 95. Moving averages are relatively flat. We do have the 50-day below us just above 100 to assist the trader in remaining above 95. Just over a month worth of time on these contracts, the theta decay should begin to accelerate to his favor. It is also worth noting that this expiration does cover earnings which is November 1st.
That’s all from us today. Very odd week so far in regards to incoming flow trades but nonetheless, we are searching for things actionable. If you enjoyed the article, likes are greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Kian, Jersace, & Jon
trully odd like you said. few actionable. Keep it up boys!