Now is the Time to Take a Shot on This Oil Stock

Marathon Oil historically outperforms when options traders are bearish

Matthew Timpane

CMT, Senior Market Strategist

Oct 17, 2022 at 2:16 PM

The below is an excerpt from this past Monday's episode of Schaeffer's Playbook of the Week, featuring Schaeffer's Senior Market Strategist Matthew Timpane, CFA. Below, Matthew makes a bullish case for Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO).

If you want to get into oil, this is the opportunity to take your shot. MRO is currently in a pennant formation, with a confluence of moving averages below the supporting price, per the chart below. Last seen at $27.31, the shares are above peak call open interest at the 25-strike right now. As a result, the $30-$31 strikes could become magnets. There's seasonality in play here too, November is the second-most bullish month in the last five years, being up about 8% on average.

PLBK MRO

Short-term options traders have been much more put-heavy than usual lately. This is per the MRO's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.72, which ranks higher than 88% of annual readings. When SOIR is this high we’ve seen some pretty massive rallies from MPC in the past, historically.

The analyst community shows plenty of "buy" or better ratings, but also nine "holds" and two "sells." So while the positioning is slightly tilted bullish, but we could conceivably see some more upgrades in the near future.

Join Schaeffer's Playbook of the Week now and tune in every Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. to get ready for the trading week with me. Click here for more information to get started.

Follow @Schaeffers

Two High-Octane Trade Ideas. One Simple Goal: Intraday Profits.

Dynamite Day Trading Signals delivers two same-day options trades every week — powered by proprietary intraday analysis and 43+ years of trading expertise.

But this isn’t just another stream of alerts.

It’s a structured plan with clear entry and exit points – designed for traders who want to act fast, trade smart, and wrap up gains before the closing bell.

No guesswork. No overnight exposure – Just two well-researched setups per week — whether you prefer buying premium or selling it.

And the results speak for themselves: subscribers have locked in +245.8% total profit over the last six months (since inception!).

👉 Start your one-month trial now for just $10, and be ready for the next trade alert.