Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bearish stance on Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC).

And retail traders should know.

We noticed this today when the trades showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.

Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with WFC, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

So how do we know what these investors just did?

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 18 uncommon options trades for Wells Fargo.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 44% bullish and 50%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 9 are puts, for a total amount of $479,249, and 9 are calls, for a total amount of $607,846.

Predicted Price Range

Based on the trading activity, it appears that the significant investors are aiming for a price territory stretching from $22.5 to $70.0 for Wells Fargo over the recent three months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

Looking at the volume and open interest is an insightful way to conduct due diligence on a stock.

This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Wells Fargo's options for a given strike price.

Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of Wells Fargo's whale activity within a strike price range from $22.5 to $70.0 in the last 30 days.

Wells Fargo 30-Day Option Volume & Interest Snapshot

Significant Options Trades Detected:

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo is one of the largest banks in the United States, with approximately $1.9 trillion in balance sheet assets. The company has four primary segments: consumer banking, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management. It is almost entirely focused on the U.S.

Wells Fargo's Current Market Status

• Trading volume stands at 13,947,878, with WFC's price down by -0.33%, positioned at $56.67.
• RSI indicators show the stock to be is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.
• Earnings announcement expected in 35 days.

What The Experts Say On Wells Fargo

In the last month, 2 experts released ratings on this stock with an average target price of $65.0.

• Maintaining their stance, an analyst from Evercore ISI Group continues to hold a Outperform rating for Wells Fargo, targeting a price of $65.
• Showing optimism, an analyst from Deutsche Bank upgrades its rating to Buy with a revised price target of $65.

Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.