AVGO has struggled to regain traction after hitting a record high in December
Shares of Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) are 5.8% lower to trade at $183.66 this afternoon, struggling to regain momentum after hitting its record peak of $251.88 on Dec. 16. The equity is extending its pullback, brushing off last week's 8.6% post-earnings pop. The previously resistant 200-day moving average and $180 level have emerged as support, mitigating losses for the stock's now 20% year-to-date deficit.
In response, the stock once again made its way onto Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White's list of stocks with the highest options volume in the past 10 days. In this period, 2,759,357 calls and 1,936,268 puts were exchanged, with most activity at the weekly 3/7 200-strike call. What's more, the top six open interest (OI) positions over the past two weeks were calls.
Put traders have been more active in the short term, however, given the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.08, which sits in the 94th percentile of readings in its annual range. There is also ample room for bear notes, given 30 of 33 covering analysts sport a "strong buy" recommendation on the shares.
Now could be an opportune time to speculate on AVGO’s next move via options. Schaeffer’s Volatility Index (SVI) of 54% sits in the 12th percentile of annual readings, suggesting options traders are currently pricing in lower volatility expectations.