GOOGL Stock Battered By Facebook, Amazon Headwinds

Alphabet stock is down more than 16% from its all-time high

Facebook (FB) has continued to get pummeled following its data scandal, while President Trump has kept the pressure on Amazon.com (AMZN). All the while FAANG peer Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has been feeling the effects for no fault of its own. Since hitting an all-time high of $1,198 back on Jan. 29, the shares have shed 16.4% and are now back below the $1,000 mark, down 3.7% at $998.80 at last check. This puts GOOGL stock in a precarious position on the charts.

Specifically, the security is testing a number of notable technical levels. It's been atop its lower Bollinger Band, and recently fell below the closely watched 200-day moving average. Between these two levels is a 50% Fibonacci retracement of the stock's 52-week low and high.

You'd think such a technical setup would be drawing the attention of speculators, but unlike peer FB, which has seen put volume soar, put activity has not been notable on GOOGL. Put open interest currently stands at 127,178 contracts, putting it in the middling 61st annual percentile and below call open interest of 128,048.

There's one last unusual trend to note for Alphabet. Despite the recent negative news surrounding social media and tech stocks, short interest actually declined during the past two reporting periods by 10.1%. For what it's worth, Pivotal Research is showing concern, this morning cutting its price target to $1,040 from $1,110.