NERD Collar Strategy
NERD (Roundhill Video Games ETF), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management industry), listed on CBOE.
The fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing in the equity securities of Video Game Companies. It invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings for investment purposes) in Video Games Companies. The fund is non-diversified.
NERD (Roundhill Video Games ETF) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management, with a market capitalization of approximately $14.6M, a beta of 0.95 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 19.01-28.81, average daily share volume of 2K, a public-listing history dating back to 2019, approximately 783 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how NERD etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.95 places NERD roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. NERD pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a collar on NERD?
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.
NERD snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $23.01, ATM IV 29.10%, IV rank 17.04%, expected move 8.34%. The collar on NERD below is built from the end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 35-day expiry.
Why this collar structure on NERD specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; compressed NERD IV at 29.10% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 8.34% (roughly $1.92 on the underlying). The 35-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated NERD expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on NERD should anchor to the underlying notional of $23.01 per share and to the trader's directional view on NERD etf.
NERD collar setup
The NERD 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 NERD at $23.01 on that close, the first option leg uses a $24.16 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed NERD chain at a 35-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 NERD shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $23.01 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $24.16 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $21.86 | N/A |
NERD collar risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- N/A
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Breakeven(s)
- None on modeled curve
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- N/A
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.
NERD collar payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar on NERD. 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.
When traders use collar on NERD
Collars on NERD hedge an existing long NERD 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.
NERD thesis for this collar
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for NERD extends from approximately $21.09 on the downside to $24.93 on the upside. A NERD collar hedges an existing long NERD 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 NERD IV rank near 17.04% 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 NERD at 29.10%. As a Financial Services name, NERD options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to NERD-specific events.
NERD 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. NERD positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move NERD alongside the broader basket even when NERD-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current NERD chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a collar on NERD?
- A collar on NERD is the collar strategy applied to NERD (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 NERD etf at $23.01 on the most recent close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed NERD chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are NERD 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 NERD collar priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 29.10%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is unbounded per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a NERD collar?
- The breakeven for the NERD collar priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve at expiration, derived from the end-of-day chain's premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The NERD market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 8.34%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a collar on NERD?
- Collars on NERD hedge an existing long NERD 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 NERD implied volatility affect this collar?
- NERD ATM IV is at 29.10% with IV rank near 17.04%, 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.