GLL Collar Strategy
GLL (ProShares - UltraShort Gold), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management - Leveraged industry), listed on AMEX.
ProShares UltraShort Gold seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times the inverse (-2x) of the daily performance of the Bloomberg Gold SubindexSM.
GLL (ProShares - UltraShort Gold) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management - Leveraged, with a market capitalization of approximately $101.0M, a beta of -0.07 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 15.6-48.48, average daily share volume of 5.4M, a public-listing history dating back to 2008. These structural characteristics shape how GLL etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of -0.07 indicates GLL has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure.
What is a collar on GLL?
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 GLL snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $21.26, ATM IV 46.70%, IV rank 35.82%, expected move 13.39%. The collar on GLL 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 GLL specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; mid-range GLL IV at 46.70% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 13.39% (roughly $2.85 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 GLL expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on GLL should anchor to the underlying notional of $21.26 per share and to the trader's directional view on GLL etf.
GLL collar setup
The GLL 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 GLL near $21.26, the first option leg uses a $22.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed GLL 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 GLL shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $21.26 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $22.00 | $0.83 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $20.00 | $0.65 |
GLL collar risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$2,108.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $91.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$108.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $21.08
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.843
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.
GLL collar payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar on GLL. 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% | -$108.50 |
| $4.71 | -77.8% | -$108.50 |
| $9.41 | -55.7% | -$108.50 |
| $14.11 | -33.6% | -$108.50 |
| $18.81 | -11.5% | -$108.50 |
| $23.51 | +10.6% | +$91.50 |
| $28.21 | +32.7% | +$91.50 |
| $32.91 | +54.8% | +$91.50 |
| $37.61 | +76.9% | +$91.50 |
| $42.31 | +99.0% | +$91.50 |
When traders use collar on GLL
Collars on GLL hedge an existing long GLL 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.
GLL thesis for this collar
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for GLL extends from approximately $18.41 on the downside to $24.11 on the upside. A GLL collar hedges an existing long GLL 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 GLL IV rank near 35.82% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the collar thesis on GLL should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Financial Services name, GLL options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to GLL-specific events.
GLL 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. GLL positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move GLL alongside the broader basket even when GLL-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current GLL chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a collar on GLL?
- A collar on GLL is the collar strategy applied to GLL (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 GLL etf trading near $21.26, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed GLL chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are GLL 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 GLL collar priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 46.70%), the computed maximum profit is $91.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$108.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a GLL collar?
- The breakeven for the GLL collar priced on this page is roughly $21.08 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 GLL market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 13.39%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a collar on GLL?
- Collars on GLL hedge an existing long GLL 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 GLL implied volatility affect this collar?
- GLL ATM IV is at 46.70% with IV rank near 35.82%, which is mid-range against its 1-year history. Strategy selection depends more on directional thesis and expected move than on a strong IV signal.