The stock just pulled back to a historically bearish moving average
Shares of Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) are 0.4% lower at $16.21 this afternoon, on track to snap a four-day win streak. The stock is now up 8.1% in September, though its recent pop has it trading near a trendline with historically bearish implications.
Specifically, TRIP recently came within one standard deviation of its 120-day moving average, after a lengthy stretch below the trendline. Per Schaeffer’s Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White, there were five similar pullbacks over the past couple years. The equity averaged a one-month loss of 7.5% after four of those signals. From where the stock currently sits, a similar move would put Tripadvisor back around $15.15.
Options traders emphasized calls over the last two weeks, and an unwinding of this optimism is likely to pressure the equity. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), TRIP’s 10-day call/put volume ratio of 3.16 ranks in the 77th percentile of annual readings, which indicates a preference for bullish bets compared to the last 12 months.
Options look like the ideal avenue to pursue for those looking to speculate on TripAdvisor stock, as it sports relatively cheap premium. This is per the equity’s Schaeffer’s Volatility Index (SVI) of 34%, which stands higher than just 3% of readings from the past year.