MicroStrategy stock saw some of the most options volume over the last 10 days
Shares of crypto-adjacent name MicroStrategy Inc (NASDAQ:MSTR) are 4.2% lower today, last seen trading at $135.56, falling alongside Bitcoin (BTC). At last glance, BTC is down 2.4% at $57,803.20, but earlier fell as low as $57,628.37. Since the start of September, BTC has lost 2.1%, while MSTR is up 2.2% in the same timeframe. The latter is coming off a 23.8% weekly gain that helped stretch its year-over-year lead to 298%.
What’s more, MicroStrategy stock landed on Schaeffer’s Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White’s list of names that attracted the most weekly options volume in the last two weeks. Over the last 10 sessions, MSTR saw more than 2.3 million calls and 958,371 puts exchanged, with the most activity taking place at the weekly 9/13 132-strike call.
This echoes the sentiment seen in the stock’s options pits. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), MSTR’s 10-day call/put ratio of 2.49 and 50-day call/put ratio of 1.98 both rank higher than all other readings from the past 12 months.
Some of today’s losses could be due to mixed messages from analysts, too. Canaccord Genuity cut its target price on MSTR to $173 from $185, while TD Cowen adjust up to $195 from $188. Meanwhile, all nine analysts in coverage recommend a “buy” or better.
Elsewhere, short interest fell 89.4% over the last month, yet the 26.63 million shares sold short still account for 15.3% of MicroStrategy stock’s total available float. At the equity’s average pace of trading, it would take shorts more than two trading days to buy back their bearish bets.
It looks like a great time to get in on the action with options. The stock’s Schaeffer’s Volatility Index (SVI) of 79% sits in the relatively low 19th percentile of its annual range, meaning it currently sports attractively priced premiums. Plus, its Schaeffer’s Volatility Scorecard (SVS) stands at 75 out of 100, indicating a penchant to exceed option traders’ volatility expectations during the past year — a boon for premium buyers.