Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL) Options Traders Eye Double-Digit Support

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL) announced last night that it has named Matthew J. Murphy its new president and CEO, effective July 11. While the news is being received with little fanfare -- MRVL stock was last seen 0.1% above breakeven at $10.15 -- today's price action could be encouraging to a recent batch of options traders.

Specifically, in a recent shift in sentiment, short-term speculators have been targeting puts more than usual of late. While MRVL's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.50 shows call open interest doubles put open interest among options expiring in three months or less, this reading actually sits at a put-skewed annual peak. In fact, MRVL's front-month gamma-weighted SOIR sits at a top-heavy 1.97, meaning near-the-money puts almost double calls in the July series.

In fact, over the past 10 trading days, MRVL's July 10 put saw the largest increase in open interest of all the stock's options -- with more than 20,000 contracts added -- but this doesn't necessarily mean traders are taking a bearish view. It appears the vast majority of these puts were sold to open, meaning traders are betting on the $10 level to serve as a floor for the shares over the next few weeks.

All in all, MRVL's option volume has been relatively light of late. But now could be a good time for short-term option buyers to get in on the action. MRVL's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 41% ranks in the low 16th annual percentile, while its 30-day at-the-money implied volatility sits in the 9th percentile of its annual range, at 42.2%. These readings indicate premium on the stock's near-term option attractively priced at current levels, from a volatility perspective.

On the charts, Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL) has been stuck in a sideways pattern since March. Still, the stock is sitting on a a 15% year-to-date lead, after tracking higher through the first few months of 2016. Plus, the stock has recently been finding support from its rising 20-week moving average -- a trendline that worked against MRVL for most of 2015.