Calls Pop as Beyond Meat Bucks Broad Market Sell-Off

Options traders may be selling to open their calls today

One stock bucking the broad market trend today is Beyond Meat Inc (NASDAQ:BYND), up 3.7% to trade at $120.50, although the catalyst is unknown. With the faux meat concern now up a whopping 61% in 2020, options traders are getting in on the action today.

At last check, 47,000 calls have changed hands, 1.2 times the average intraday amount and nearly triple the number of puts traded. New positions are being opened at the February 122 and 119-strike calls, with a slant toward sell-to-open activity. This indicates options traders see the $122 and $119 levels as a ceiling for the end of the week, when the options expire.

BYND is on track for its best day since Jan. 21. Despite the hearty year-to-date gain though, the shares have spent the last few weeks consolidating below their newly formed 160-day moving average. And for perspective, the equity is a ways off its July 26 record high of $239.71.

Today's options activity is nothing new though. BYND's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 2.07 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) this means is that while calls have outpaced puts by a more than 2-to-1 ratio.

Options premiums look affordable on the security at the moment. The security's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 79% sits in the 25th percentile of its annual range. This means short-term options are pricing in fairly low volatility expectations right now.