Decoding Baidu's Options Activity: What's the Big Picture?

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bearish stance on Baidu BIDU.

And retail traders should know.

We noticed this today when the trades 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 BIDU, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

So how do we know what these investors just did?

Today, Benzinga‘s options scanner spotted 15 uncommon options trades for Baidu.

This isn’t normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 40% bullish and 46%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 4 are puts, for a total amount of $178,080, and 11 are calls, for a total amount of $985,613.

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 $65.0 to $120.0 for Baidu over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Trends

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Baidu options trades today is 1303.64 with a total volume of 1,826.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Baidu’s big money trades within a strike price range of $65.0 to $120.0 over the last 30 days.

Baidu 30-Day Option Volume & Interest Snapshot

Noteworthy Options Activity:

About Baidu

Baidu is the largest internet search engine in China with over 50% share of the search engine market in 2024 per web analytics firm, Statcounter. The firm generated 72% of core revenue from online marketing services from its search engine in 2023. Outside its search engine, Baidu is a technology-driven company and its other major growth initiatives are artificial intelligence cloud, video streaming services, voice recognition technology, and autonomous driving.

Current Position of Baidu

• Currently trading with a volume of 3,495,639, the BIDU’s price is up by 1.5%, now at $90.14.
• RSI readings suggest the stock is currently may be approaching overbought.
• Anticipated earnings release is in 11 days.

Professional Analyst Ratings for Baidu

A total of 1 professional analysts have given their take on this stock in the last 30 days, setting an average price target of $130.0.

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* In a cautious move, an analyst from Benchmark downgraded its rating to Buy, setting a price target of $130.

Trading options involves greater risks but also offers the potential for higher profits. Savvy traders mitigate these risks through ongoing education, strategic trade adjustments, utilizing various indicators, and staying attuned to market dynamics. Keep up with the latest options trades for Baidu with Benzinga Pro for real-time alerts.