EFZ Collar Strategy
EFZ (ProShares - Short MSCI EAFE), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management - Leveraged industry), listed on AMEX.
ProShares Short MSCI EAFE seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to the inverse (-1x) of the daily performance of the MSCI EAFE Index.
EFZ (ProShares - Short MSCI EAFE) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management - Leveraged, with a market capitalization of approximately $7.5M, a beta of -0.64 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 11.53-14.54, average daily share volume of 126K, a public-listing history dating back to 2007. These structural characteristics shape how EFZ etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of -0.64 indicates EFZ has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. EFZ pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a collar on EFZ?
A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot.
Current EFZ snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $12.00, ATM IV 15.40%, IV rank 7.28%, expected move 4.42%. The collar on EFZ 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 collar structure on EFZ specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; compressed EFZ IV at 15.40% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 4.42% (roughly $0.53 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 EFZ expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on EFZ should anchor to the underlying notional of $12.00 per share and to the trader's directional view on EFZ etf.
EFZ collar setup
The EFZ collar below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With EFZ near $12.00, the first option leg uses a $13.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed EFZ 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 EFZ shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $12.00 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $13.00 | $0.10 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $11.00 | $0.08 |
EFZ collar risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$1,198.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $102.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$98.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $11.98
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.041
Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium.
EFZ collar payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar on EFZ. 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 | -99.9% | -$98.00 |
| $2.66 | -77.8% | -$98.00 |
| $5.31 | -55.7% | -$98.00 |
| $7.97 | -33.6% | -$98.00 |
| $10.62 | -11.5% | -$98.00 |
| $13.27 | +10.6% | +$102.00 |
| $15.92 | +32.7% | +$102.00 |
| $18.58 | +54.8% | +$102.00 |
| $21.23 | +76.9% | +$102.00 |
| $23.88 | +99.0% | +$102.00 |
When traders use collar on EFZ
Collars on EFZ hedge an existing long EFZ etf position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
EFZ thesis for this collar
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for EFZ extends from approximately $11.47 on the downside to $12.53 on the upside. A EFZ collar hedges an existing long EFZ position with a protective put while financing the put cost via a short call; when the premiums roughly offset, the collar acts as a near-zero-cost insurance band around the current spot. Current EFZ IV rank near 7.28% 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 EFZ at 15.40%. As a Financial Services name, EFZ options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to EFZ-specific events.
EFZ collar positions are structurally neutral (protective); 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. EFZ positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move EFZ alongside the broader basket even when EFZ-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current EFZ chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a collar on EFZ?
- A collar on EFZ is the collar strategy applied to EFZ (etf). The strategy is structurally neutral (protective): A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot. With EFZ etf trading near $12.00, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed EFZ chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are EFZ collar max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium. For the EFZ collar priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 15.40%), the computed maximum profit is $102.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$98.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a EFZ collar?
- The breakeven for the EFZ collar priced on this page is roughly $11.98 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 EFZ market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 4.42%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a collar on EFZ?
- Collars on EFZ hedge an existing long EFZ etf position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
- How does current EFZ implied volatility affect this collar?
- EFZ ATM IV is at 15.40% with IV rank near 7.28%, 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.