Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bearish stance on Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM).

And retail traders should know.

We noticed this today when the trades showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.

Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with XOM, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

So how do we know what these investors just did?

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 18 uncommon options trades for Exxon Mobil.

This isn't normal.

The...