Looking at the stocks that have seen the most option volume in the past 10 days, courtesy of Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White, two names that stick out are Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Beyond Meat Inc (NASDAQ:BYND). The shares of both TSLA and BYND are making strong moves to the upside today.
Starting with TSLA, the stock keeps pushing higher from last week's lows, up 4.5% today at $213.62, likely benefiting from an upgrade to "buy" and a $238 price target at Roth Capital. In the options pits, options traders on both sides of the aisle are reacting, with new positions opening at the weekly 6/28 185-strike put, while the weekly 6/14 220-strike call is also seeing new positions being opened.*
Coming into today, near-term options traders were much less put-skewed than normal, since the Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.59 ranks in the low 5th annual percentile. Tesla stock is heading for its highest close since May 16, but remains stuck in its series of lower highs and lows that's been in place since December. The company's shareholder meeting is scheduled for after the close tomorrow, June 11.
Turning to Wall Street sensation BYND, the shares earlier tapped another record high of $186.43, last seen trading up 17.4% at $162.74. There's no specific reason for the surge, aside from the relentless buying that's followed the stock essentially since its initial public offering (IPO) from last month.
Looking at options activity, one of the most populated Beyond Meat options is the June 160 call, where 3,700 contracts reside. However, the SOIR of 1.21 shows short-term put open interest outweighs call open interest. Today, the weekly 6/14 180-strike call is most popular, with new positions being added. Those buying to open the calls would be betting on the shares extending their upside through Friday's close, when the series expires.
*This sentence has been updated to reflect the correct strike price for the weekly 6/14 trading volume.