Electric Vehicle Stock Drops Amid High Options Volume

Thanks to data courtesy of Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White, we have a list below comprised of 20 stocks that have attracted the highest weekly options volume over the last 10 trading days, with new additions highlighted in yellow. Today we're delving into car manufacturer Nikola Corporation (NASDAQ:NKLA), taking a look at the stock's recent behavior on the charts, and how the options pits are responding.

NKLA is plummeting today, after filing for a new stock offering of up to 53.4 million shares related to warrants for existing shareholders. Currently, the shares are dipping below the $40 region for the first time since early June, with overhead pressure at the 60-day moving average. For the day, the stock is down 20% at $39.07, at last check, but for 2020, Nikola has surged 278.6%.  

Of the three analysts in coverage, two sport a "buy," on NKLA while one linger at a "hold." Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus target price of $59.67 is around a 52% premium to current levels.

Per White, 571,776 calls and 251,671 puts have been traded over the past 10 days, which differs slightly to today's sentiment. This afternoon 85,000 puts and 74,000 calls have crossed the tape so far, with put volume running in the 94th annual percentile. Most popular is the weekly 7/24 35-strike put, where new positions are being opened, followed by the 50-strike put in the same series.