Traders are betting big against this restaurant giant into earnings — SkimNews
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- Chipotle saw Tuesday options volume exceed eight times its monthly average, with 240,000 puts traded against fewer than 17,000 calls and $8 million in put premiums.
- A $25 put rollover represented at least $2 million in premium: someone bought back 56,000 Nov. 6 $25-strike puts while selling the same number of $22.50-strike puts expiring mid-December.
- A separate $28-strike put purchase covered 7,500 contracts expiring Nov. 20 and carried $1.1 million in premium, requiring a further 5% drop over the next 3.5 weeks.
- Jason DeLorenzo described all of the trades as earnings plays and said Volland’s data show customers generally bearish.
- Chipotle's $27 level matches the shoulder line of a large head-and-shoulders pattern extending back to January 2021, a ridge technicians generally view as a bearish break point.
- The July 2025 precedent: Chipotle’s implied move before earnings was last this low then, and the stock “got crushed,” DeLorenzo said.
Why it matters: For Chipotle shareholders, the material fact is the sheer scale of the bearish bet: $8 million in put premium, with 240,000 puts versus fewer than 17,000 calls. The positioning is organized around the $27 technical ridge and the July 2025 precedent, putting both at the center of the pre-earnings setup.
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