Straddle Definition

A straddle is an options strategy that involves buying both a put and a call option for the underlying security with the same strike price and the same expiration date. A trader will profit from a straddle when the price of the security rises or falls from the strike price by an amount more than the total cost of the premium paid. 

A straddle can give a trader two significant clues about what the options market thinks about a stock. First is the volatility the market is expecting from the security. Second is the expected trading range of the stock by the expiration date. 

To determine the cost of creating a straddle one must add the price of the put and the call together. For example, if a trader believes that a stock may rise or fall from its current price of $55 following earnings on March 1, they could create a straddle. The trader would look to purchase one put and one call at the $55 strike with an expiration date of March 15. To determine the cost of creating the straddle, the trader would add the price of one March 15 $55 call and one March 15 $55 put. If both the calls and the puts trade for $2.50 each, the total outlay or premium paid would be $5.00 for the two contracts.

The premium paid suggests that the stock would need to rise or fall by 9% from the $55 strike price to earn a profit by March 15. The amount the stock is expected to rise-or-fall is a measure of the future expected volatility of the stock. To determine how much the stock needs to rise or fall, divide the premium paid by the strike price, which is $5 / $55, or 9%. 

To determine the expected trading range of the stock, one would add or subtract the $5 premium to or from the $55 strike price. In this case, it creates a trading range of $50 to $60. If the stock traded within the zone of $50 to $60, the trader would lose some of their money but not necessarily all of it. It is only possible to earn a profit if the stock rises or falls outside of the $50 to $60 zone.

If the stock fell to $48, the calls would be worth $0, while the puts would be worth $7 at expiration. That would deliver a profit of $2 to the trader. However, if the stock went to $57, the calls would be worth $2, and the puts would be worth zero, giving the trader a loss of $3. The worst-case scenario is when the stock price stays at or near the strike price. 

On October 18, 2018, the options market was implying that AMD’s stock could rise or fall 20% from the $26 strike price for expiration on November 16, because it cost $5.10 to buy one put and call. It placed the stock in a trading range of $20.90 to $31.15. A week later, the company reported results and shares plunged from $22.70 to $19.27 on October 25. In this case, the trader would have earned a profit because the stock fell outside of the range, exceeding the premium cost of buying the puts and calls.