The SEC sued Coinbase for allegedly operating without registration
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is taking aim at the crypto sector. The regulator is suing cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) for allegedly operating illegally without registration, just a day after filing a lawsuit against Binance. In its complaint, the SEC said Coinbase has made billions of dollar since 2019 while evading disclosure requirements that protect investors.
The equity is off 15.5% at $49.61 at last check -- its lowest trading level since January. COIN also breached a floor at the $56 earlier, which had been supportive for the past month, and is on track for its worst single-day percentage drop since July. Year-over-year, the shares are down 30%.
The brokerage bunch leans bearish toward the security, with 13 of the 22 analysts in coverage calling it a tepid "hold" or worse. Plus, short interest is up 2.6% in the last two reporting periods, and the 37.33 million shares sold short make up 20.9% of the stock's available float.
Overall options volume is already running at eight times the intraday average, with 96,000 calls and 145,000 puts exchanged. The weekly 6/9 40-strike put is the most popular by far, with new positions opening there.
Short-term options traders have been more bearish than usual. This is per Coinbase stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.50, which ranks in the 81st percentile of readings from the past year.