EWI Collar Strategy
EWI (iShares MSCI Italy ETF), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management - Global industry), listed on AMEX.
The iShares MSCI Italy ETF's objective is to replicate the investment performance of a specific market index. This benchmark is entirely composed of equities issued by companies based in Italy.
EWI (iShares MSCI Italy ETF) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management - Global, with a market capitalization of approximately $668.4M, a beta of 0.93 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 47.32-61.18, average daily share volume of 429K, a public-listing history dating back to 1996. These structural characteristics shape how EWI etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.93 places EWI roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. EWI pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a collar on EWI?
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 EWI snapshot
As of June 30, 2026, spot at $59.25, ATM IV 22.70%, IV rank 29.67%, expected move 6.51%. The collar on EWI 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 17-day expiry.
Why this collar structure on EWI specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; compressed EWI IV at 22.70% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 6.51% (roughly $3.86 on the underlying). The 17-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated EWI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on EWI should anchor to the underlying notional of $59.25 per share and to the trader's directional view on EWI etf.
EWI collar setup
The EWI 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 EWI near $59.25, the first option leg uses a $62.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed EWI chain at a 17-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 EWI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $59.25 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $62.00 | $0.19 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $56.00 | $0.28 |
EWI collar risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$5,934.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $266.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$334.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $59.34
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.796
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.
EWI collar payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar on EWI. 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% | -$334.00 |
| $13.11 | -77.9% | -$334.00 |
| $26.21 | -55.8% | -$334.00 |
| $39.31 | -33.7% | -$334.00 |
| $52.41 | -11.5% | -$334.00 |
| $65.51 | +10.6% | +$266.00 |
| $78.61 | +32.7% | +$266.00 |
| $91.71 | +54.8% | +$266.00 |
| $104.81 | +76.9% | +$266.00 |
| $117.90 | +99.0% | +$266.00 |
When traders use collar on EWI
Collars on EWI hedge an existing long EWI 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.
EWI thesis for this collar
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for EWI extends from approximately $55.39 on the downside to $63.11 on the upside. A EWI collar hedges an existing long EWI 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 EWI IV rank near 29.67% 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 EWI at 22.70%. As a Financial Services name, EWI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to EWI-specific events.
EWI 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. EWI positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move EWI alongside the broader basket even when EWI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current EWI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a collar on EWI?
- A collar on EWI is the collar strategy applied to EWI (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 EWI etf trading near $59.25, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed EWI chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are EWI 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 EWI collar priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 22.70%), the computed maximum profit is $266.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$334.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a EWI collar?
- The breakeven for the EWI collar priced on this page is roughly $59.34 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 EWI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 6.51%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a collar on EWI?
- Collars on EWI hedge an existing long EWI 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 EWI implied volatility affect this collar?
- EWI ATM IV is at 22.70% with IV rank near 29.67%, 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.