AIS Strangle Strategy
AIS (VistaShares Artificial Intelligence Supercycle ETF), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management industry), listed on AMEX.
The fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing in a portfolio of global AI companies. The Sub-Adviser seeks to invest the fund’s assets to achieve returns similar to those of the BITA VistaShares Artificial Intelligence Supercycle Index. Under normal circumstances, the fund will invest at least 80% of the fund’s net assets (plus borrowings for investment purposes) in AI companies.
AIS (VistaShares Artificial Intelligence Supercycle ETF) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management, with a market capitalization of approximately $221.3M, a beta of 2.87 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 23.83-71.595, average daily share volume of 255K, a public-listing history dating back to 2024. These structural characteristics shape how AIS etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 2.87 indicates AIS has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position.
What is a strangle on AIS?
A long strangle buys an OTM call and an OTM put at offset strikes, cheaper than a straddle but requiring a larger underlying move to profit since both wings start out-of-the-money.
Current AIS snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $68.42, ATM IV 55.50%, IV rank 12.43%, expected move 15.91%. The strangle on AIS below is built from the same end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 34-day expiry.
Why this strangle structure on AIS specifically: AIS IV at 55.50% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a AIS strangle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 15.91% (roughly $10.89 on the underlying). The 34-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated AIS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on AIS should anchor to the underlying notional of $68.42 per share and to the trader's directional view on AIS etf.
AIS strangle setup
The AIS strangle below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With AIS near $68.42, the first option leg uses a $70.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed AIS chain at a 34-day expiry; the cross-strike IV skew is reflected directly in the per-leg values rather than approximated. Quantity sizing assumes one contract per option leg (or 100 AIS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $70.00 | $4.35 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $65.00 | $3.15 |
AIS strangle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$750.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$750.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $57.50, $77.50
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- Unbounded
Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the put strike minus the combined debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached anywhere between the two OTM strikes). Two breakevens at call-strike plus debit and put-strike minus debit.
AIS strangle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the strangle on AIS. Each row is one sampled price point from the computed payoff curve; the full curve uses 200 price points internally before being summarized into 10 rows here.
| Underlying Price | % From Spot | P&L at Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| $0.01 | -100.0% | +$5,749.00 |
| $15.14 | -77.9% | +$4,236.31 |
| $30.26 | -55.8% | +$2,723.61 |
| $45.39 | -33.7% | +$1,210.92 |
| $60.52 | -11.5% | -$301.77 |
| $75.64 | +10.6% | -$185.53 |
| $90.77 | +32.7% | +$1,327.16 |
| $105.90 | +54.8% | +$2,839.85 |
| $121.03 | +76.9% | +$4,352.55 |
| $136.15 | +99.0% | +$5,865.24 |
When traders use strangle on AIS
Strangles on AIS are the cheaper cousin of the straddle - traders use them when they want a large directional move but are willing to give up the inner-strike sensitivity in exchange for a lower up-front debit on the AIS chain.
AIS thesis for this strangle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for AIS extends from approximately $57.53 on the downside to $79.31 on the upside. A AIS long strangle is the OTM cousin of the straddle: lower up-front cost but the underlying has to travel further past either OTM strike before the position turns profitable at expiration. Current AIS IV rank near 12.43% sits in the lower third of its 1-year distribution, where IV often re-expands toward the mean; this favors premium-buying structures and disadvantages premium-selling structures on AIS at 55.50%. As a Financial Services name, AIS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to AIS-specific events.
AIS strangle positions are structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium, OTM); the modeled P&L assumes European-style exercise at expiration and ignores early assignment, transaction costs, dividends paid before expiry on the stock leg (when present), and the bid-ask spread on the listed chain. AIS positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move AIS alongside the broader basket even when AIS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current AIS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a strangle on AIS?
- A strangle on AIS is the strangle strategy applied to AIS (etf). The strategy is structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium, OTM): A long strangle buys an OTM call and an OTM put at offset strikes, cheaper than a straddle but requiring a larger underlying move to profit since both wings start out-of-the-money. With AIS etf trading near $68.42, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed AIS chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are AIS strangle max profit and max loss calculated?
- Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the put strike minus the combined debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached anywhere between the two OTM strikes). Two breakevens at call-strike plus debit and put-strike minus debit. For the AIS strangle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 55.50%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$750.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a AIS strangle?
- The breakeven for the AIS strangle priced on this page is roughly $57.50 and $77.50 at expiration, derived from end-of-day chain premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The current AIS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 15.91%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a strangle on AIS?
- Strangles on AIS are the cheaper cousin of the straddle - traders use them when they want a large directional move but are willing to give up the inner-strike sensitivity in exchange for a lower up-front debit on the AIS chain.
- How does current AIS implied volatility affect this strangle?
- AIS ATM IV is at 55.50% with IV rank near 12.43%, which is on the low end of its 1-year range. Premium-buying structures (long call, long put, debit spreads) are relatively cheap in this regime; premium-selling structures collect less credit per unit risk.