MRK options flow: unusual options activity in Merck & Co. Inc.
Updated 28 September 2026, 09:54 ET
Over the last week the tape recorded 119 unusual options prints in Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK), $33.7M of tracked premium, close to even between bullish and bearish premium. Bullish premium was $3.6M against $3.9M bearish; $31.0M went into calls and $2.7M into puts, a put call ratio of 0.09. The largest print was $24.1M of MRK 17 Jun 2027 $80 calls on 25 September 2026, executed at ask. The last session with prints, 25 September 2026, added 21 prints and $26.6M of premium. MRK closed at $148.78 on 25 September 2026, up 0.5%.
This week's unusual flow
Prints from 21 September 2026 to 25 September 2026, 5 sessions. Delayed tier: every print is shown twenty minutes after it executed, and the page is rebuilt after each session.
Net premium is bullish minus bearish premium. The put call ratio is put premium divided by call premium, weighted by money rather than by contract count. Sweeps is the share of prints executed across several exchanges at once. Read the guide: Reading the Pulse.
Largest prints of the week
| Date | Contract | Type | Size | Open int. | Premium | Execution | Sentiment | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Sep 2026 | MRK 17 Jun 2027 $80 calls | Trade | 3,450 | 12,379 | $24.1M | At ask | Neutral | Whale |
| 25 Sep 2026 | MRK 21 Jan 2028 $170 puts | Trade | 400 | 14 | $1.3M | At bid | Neutral | Whale |
| 22 Sep 2026 | MRK 18 Dec 2026 $170 calls | Sweep | 1,743 | 10,885 | $627K | At ask | Bullish | High conviction |
| 25 Sep 2026 | MRK 20 Nov 2026 $160 calls | Sweep | 800 | 3,518 | $296K | At ask | Bullish | Notable |
| 23 Sep 2026 | MRK 15 Jan 2027 $135 puts | Trade | 500 | 408 | $246K | Above ask | Bearish | Notable |
| 23 Sep 2026 | MRK 16 Oct 2026 $165 calls | Trade | 10,982 | 3,486 | $220K | At bid | Bearish | Notable |
| 24 Sep 2026 | MRK 21 Jan 2028 $150 puts | Sweep | 100 | 69 | $195K | At ask | Bearish | High conviction |
| 23 Sep 2026 | MRK 30 Oct 2026 $140 calls | Sweep | 151 | 3 | $195K | At ask | Bullish | High conviction |
| 21 Sep 2026 | MRK 15 Jan 2027 $90 calls | Trade | 30 | 805 | $180K | At ask | Bullish | |
| 24 Sep 2026 | MRK 19 Mar 2027 $185 calls | Trade | 499 | 1,605 | $170K | At ask | Bullish | |
| 21 Sep 2026 | MRK 20 Nov 2026 $155 calls | Trade | 295 | 1,059 | $164K | At bid | Neutral | |
| 24 Sep 2026 | MRK 30 Oct 2026 $140 calls | Sweep | 122 | 303 | $162K | At bid | Bearish | Notable |
Size above open interest means the trade opened a position larger than everything that existed in the contract the night before. Above ask and below bid are the most aggressive executions. Read the guide: Size versus open interest.
Where the money is aimed
| Expiry | Prints | Premium | Calls share | Net premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Jun 2027 | 7 | $24.4M | 100% | +$12K |
| 21 Jan 2028 | 7 | $1.9M | 17% | -$390K |
| 16 Oct 2026 | 29 | $1.8M | 96% | -$262K |
| 15 Jan 2027 | 18 | $1.3M | 68% | -$194K |
| 18 Dec 2026 | 10 | $1.2M | 98% | +$540K |
| 20 Nov 2026 | 13 | $1.0M | 85% | +$39K |
The most premium, $24.4M, is aimed at the 17 Jun 2027 expiry; the nearest expiry with unusual prints is 16 Oct 2026.
A print in a contract expiring this week is a view about the next few days, often about a known event; a print months out is a different kind of statement. Read the guide: 0DTE options flow.
The last session, 25 September 2026
| Date | Contract | Type | Size | Open int. | Premium | Execution | Sentiment | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Sep 2026 | MRK 17 Jun 2027 $80 calls | Trade | 3,450 | 12,379 | $24.1M | At ask | Neutral | Whale |
| 25 Sep 2026 | MRK 21 Jan 2028 $170 puts | Trade | 400 | 14 | $1.3M | At bid | Neutral | Whale |
| 25 Sep 2026 | MRK 20 Nov 2026 $160 calls | Sweep | 800 | 3,518 | $296K | At ask | Bullish | Notable |
| 25 Sep 2026 | MRK 16 Oct 2026 $155 calls | Sweep | 922 | 7,008 | $124K | At bid | Bearish | High conviction |
| 25 Sep 2026 | MRK 23 Oct 2026 $160 calls | Sweep | 752 | 110 | $78K | At bid | Bearish | High conviction |
Every print in MRK with its full detail, the live tape, one tap filters and saved screeners: open MRK in Options Sentiment Screener.
Price
The live quote and the price chart sit beside the ticker's flow in the app: open MRK in Options Sentiment Screener.
Analysts
The most recent analyst targets on file, from 19 firms, have a median of $160, 7.5% above the last close. The last 90 days brought 2 upgrades and 1 downgrade.
Calls bought at a strike above the average target are a bet that the analysts are too cautious; puts far below the price in a name they like are protection or a strong disagreement. Read the guide: Reading one ticker's flow.
About Merck & Co. Inc.
- Exchange
- NYSE
- Sector
- Health Care
- Industry
- Pharmaceutical Products
- Headquarters
- KENILWORTH, New Jersey
- Website
- merck.com
Merck & Co. operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes. The Animal Health segment discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and health management solutions and services.
In the same sector
Flow pages for other Health Care names in the S&P 500:
LLY Eli Lilly & Co.JNJ Johnson & JohnsonABBV AbbVie Inc.UNH UnitedHealth Group Inc.TMO Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.AMGN Amgen Inc.GILD Gilead Sciences, Inc.ABT Abbott Laboratories
Learn
- What unusual options activity means
- Reading one ticker's flow
- Sweeps, blocks and where a trade printed
- Size versus open interest
- Bullish or bearish, how a print's sentiment is inferred
- The conviction score and whale prints
The live tape for MRK with every print's execution detail, one tap filters for calls, puts, sweeps and 0DTE, saved screeners and, for Realtime subscribers, push alerts and no delay. The same screen is in the iOS and Android apps.
Open MRK in Options Sentiment Screener