USCI Collar Strategy
USCI (United States Commodity Index Fund), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management industry), listed on AMEX.
The fund strives to accomplish its financial goals by committing the vast majority of its assets to the Benchmark Component Futures Contracts. This underlying index, the SDCI, is structured to mimic the returns of a broad and diverse selection of commodities.
USCI (United States Commodity Index Fund) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management, with a market capitalization of approximately $343.0M, a beta of 0.85 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 73.84-103.53, average daily share volume of 21K, a public-listing history dating back to 2010. These structural characteristics shape how USCI etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.85 places USCI roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a collar on USCI?
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.
USCI snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $102.88, ATM IV 47.20%, IV rank 50.33%, expected move 13.53%. The collar on USCI below is built from the August 14, 2026 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 USCI specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; mid-range USCI IV at 47.20% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 13.53% (roughly $13.92 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 USCI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on USCI should anchor to the underlying notional of $102.88 per share and to the trader's directional view on USCI etf.
USCI collar setup
The USCI collar below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With USCI at $102.88 on that close, the first option leg uses a $108.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed USCI 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 USCI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $102.88 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $108.00 | $2.71 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $98.00 | $3.23 |
USCI collar risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$10,340.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $460.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$540.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $103.40
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.852
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.
USCI collar payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar on USCI. 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% | -$540.00 |
| $22.76 | -77.9% | -$540.00 |
| $45.50 | -55.8% | -$540.00 |
| $68.25 | -33.7% | -$540.00 |
| $90.99 | -11.6% | -$540.00 |
| $113.74 | +10.6% | +$460.00 |
| $136.49 | +32.7% | +$460.00 |
| $159.23 | +54.8% | +$460.00 |
| $181.98 | +76.9% | +$460.00 |
| $204.73 | +99.0% | +$460.00 |
When traders use collar on USCI
Collars on USCI hedge an existing long USCI 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.
USCI thesis for this collar
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for USCI extends from approximately $88.96 on the downside to $116.80 on the upside. A USCI collar hedges an existing long USCI 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 USCI IV rank near 50.33% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the collar thesis on USCI should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Financial Services name, USCI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to USCI-specific events.
USCI 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. USCI positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move USCI alongside the broader basket even when USCI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current USCI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a collar on USCI?
- A collar on USCI is the collar strategy applied to USCI (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 USCI etf at $102.88 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed USCI chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are USCI 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 USCI collar priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 47.20%), the computed maximum profit is $460.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$540.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a USCI collar?
- The breakeven for the USCI collar priced on this page is roughly $103.40 at expiration, derived from the August 14, 2026 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 USCI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 13.53%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a collar on USCI?
- Collars on USCI hedge an existing long USCI 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 USCI implied volatility affect this collar?
- USCI ATM IV is at 47.20% with IV rank near 50.33%, 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.