Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX).

And retail traders should know.

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

Whether this is an institution or just a wealthy individual, we don't know. But when something this big happens with FCX, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

So how do we know what this whale just did?

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 13 uncommon options trades for Freeport-McMoRan.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 46% bullish and 53%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 6 are puts, for a total amount of $581,727, and 7 are calls, for a total amount of $326,975.

What's The Price Target?

Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $30.0 to $40.0 for Freeport-McMoRan over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for Freeport-McMoRan options trades today is 2201.4 with a total volume of 8,884.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for Freeport-McMoRan's big money trades within a strike price range of $30.0 to $40.0 over the last 30 days.

Freeport-McMoRan Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

Where Is Freeport-McMoRan Standing Right Now?

• With a volume of 8,536,393, the price of FCX is up 2.31% at $36.06.
• RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock may be approaching oversold.
• Next earnings are expected to be released in 64 days.

What The Experts Say On Freeport-McMoRan:

• Barclays has decided to maintain their Underweight rating on Freeport-McMoRan, which currently sits at a price target of $29.
• Morgan Stanley has decided to maintain their Equal-Weight rating on Freeport-McMoRan, which currently sits at a price target of $35.
• RBC Capital downgraded its action to Sector Perform with a price target of $50

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.

If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for Freeport-McMoRan, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.