Facebook is having one of its worst quarters since going public

Facebook shares have taken a massive hit recently, and one technical analyst is betting on more trouble ahead.

Shares of the social media company fell nearly 3 percent on Thursday, bringing its quarter-to-date losses to a whopping 16 percent; that places Facebook on track for its largest quarterly loss since 2012, when it lost 30 percent, and its second-worst quarter since going public in early 2012.

Todd Gordon, founder of TradingAnalysis.com, sees an opportunity in the sell-off. The stock is certainly “technically damaged,” Gordon said Thursday on CNBC’s “Trading Nation.”

“I see no reason that we shouldn’t be able to go back and retest the $150 mark, which was the old low here from April of 2018. There’s a lot of momentum here,” he said, implying an 8 percent drop from the stock’s current levels.

Though he is bullish on other corners of the market, he plans to hedge some of his long positions by taking a short position in Facebook. The stock has lost 8.5 percent in just one week amid a broader sell-off in social media names and congressional testimony from technology executives, including Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, earlier this week.

Gordon is turning to the October monthly options for his trade. He’s buying the Oct. 19^{155-strike put and selling the Oct. 19150-strike put for about $1.30, or $130 per options spread.}

“The total risk you have on this trade is $130. We’ve positioned size here on ‘Trading Nation’ such that we’re going to risk half of that premium. $1.30 gets cut in half to 65 cents, or $65 per options spread, cut the trade, contain the risk, move on, and it looks like the market is stabilizing,” Gordon advised, adding that this trade could yield a maximum profit of $370.

“You don’t have to hold the thing all the way to max profit. You can trade it just like a stock. You’re buying a stock at $130, and if you get up to $180, $190, $200 on the spread and you like the support coming in, you like the sell-off to ease up, go ahead and take the trade off. Don’t hold all the way to expiration if you don’t want,” he said.

Facebook shares fell nearly 3 percent Thursday.