Looking At Southwest Airlines's Recent Unusual Options Activity

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Southwest Airlines LUV.

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 LUV, 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 10 uncommon options trades for Southwest Airlines.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 40% bullish and 60%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 3 are puts, for a total amount of $124,430, and 7 are calls, for a total amount of $1,023,346.

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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 $20.0 to $50.0 for Southwest Airlines over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

Looking at the volume and open interest is a powerful move while trading options. This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Southwest Airlines'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 Southwest Airlines's whale trades within a strike price range from $20.0 to $50.0 in the last 30 days.

Southwest Airlines Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

Where Is Southwest Airlines Standing Right Now?

• With a volume of 5,129,516, the price of LUV is up 1.46% at $38.97.
• RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be overbought.
• Next earnings are expected to be released in 16 days.

What The Experts Say On Southwest Airlines:

• Raymond James has decided to maintain their Strong Buy rating on Southwest Airlines, which currently sits at a price target of $47.
• B of A Securities has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Southwest Airlines, which currently sits at a price target of $45.
• Morgan Stanley downgraded its action to Overweight with a price target of $60

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 Southwest Airlines, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.