Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bullish stance on American Express (NYSE:AXP).

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 AXP, 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 11 uncommon options trades for American Express.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 54% bullish and 9%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 6 are puts, for a total amount of $332,409, and 5 are calls, for a total amount of $264,130.

Expected Price Movements

Analyzing the Volume and Open Interest in these contracts, it seems that the big players have been eyeing a price window from $175.0 to $250.0 for American Express during the past quarter.

Volume & Open Interest Trends

In today's trading context, the average open interest for options of American Express stands at 622.67, with a total volume reaching 560.00. The accompanying chart delineates the progression of both call and put option volume and open interest for high-value trades in American Express, situated within the strike price corridor from $175.0 to $250.0, throughout the last 30 days.

American Express 30-Day Option Volume & Interest Snapshot

Noteworthy Options Activity:

About American Express

American Express is a global financial institution, operating in about 130 countries, that provides consumers and businesses charge and credit card payment products. The company also operates a highly profitable merchant payment network. Since 2018, it has operated in three segments: global consumer services, global commercial services, and global merchant and network services. In addition to payment products, the company's commercial business offers expense management tools, consulting services, and business loans.

After a thorough review of the options trading surrounding American Express, we move to examine the company in more detail. This includes an assessment of its current market status and performance.

American Express's Current Market Status

• Trading volume stands at 323,780, with AXP's price up by 0.28%, positioned at $231.24.
• RSI indicators show the stock to be is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.
• Earnings announcement expected in 23 days.

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.