Toyota Motor (TM: sentiment, chart, options) shares are 2% higher today, with the company reporting a milestone for its hybrid Prius vehicles. The environmentally friendly cars have now sold over 1 million units, according to a company release. Douglas McIntyre of BloggingStocks.com notes that the Prius was a gamble when it debuted, but says, "Toyota has once again put its competition in a situation where they have to catch up." (Not even the competition will argue this point; witness Ford's new ad campaign, where it asserts its quality is now "as good as" Toyota's.)

Regardless of the fact that TM's Prius is now a green icon, the stock has slipped consistently lower since January 2007. In fact, competitor Ford Motor (F) has surged versus TM on a relative-strength basis since mid-March, and TM's year-to-date loss of more than 5% exceeds that of the S&P 500 Index (SPX).

More recently, TM seems to have found relief from its slump in the form of double-barreled support from its 50-month moving average and the 100 level. Will these levels provide TM with enough of a bounce to challenge its resistant 20-week moving average? Option traders don't seem to think so. The equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio is 1.03, which ranks higher than 73% of comparable readings taken during the past year.