Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) stock is 3.9% lower ahead of the open. The drug stock lost 17% yesterday after vital data on the company's vaunted cancer vaccine developed with Merck (MRK) was leaked. Later in the day after the close, the full data was released, which showed phase 3 trials cutting recurrence or death risk by 42% when compared to Keytruda.
Moderna stock hit a four-year high of $254.48 on Oct. 21. Today's pullback will test the shares' 30-day moving average, a trendline that buoyed yesterday's selloff. Year to date, MRNA is still up 587%.
Puts have been increasingly popular. MRNA sports a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.98 on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This ratio stands higher than 95% of all other readings from the past year, hinting at a much healthier-than-usual appetite for bearish bets over bullish of late.
Echoing this, Moderna's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.63 sits just one percentage point from an annual high, suggesting short-term option players have rarely been more put-heavy during the past 12 months.
The equity has tended to outperform options traders' volatility expectations, per its Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) sits at 80 out 100.
