USCI Iron Condor Strategy
USCI (United States Commodity Index Fund), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management industry), listed on AMEX.
The fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing to the fullest extent possible in the Benchmark Component Futures Contracts. The SDCI is designed to reflect the performance of a diversified group of commodities.
USCI (United States Commodity Index Fund) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management, with a market capitalization of approximately $378.4M, a beta of 0.88 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 69.3-102.93, average daily share volume of 25K, 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 0.88 places USCI roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a iron condor on USCI?
An iron condor sells a call spread and a put spread at strikes outside spot, collecting net premium that is kept if the underlying stays inside the inner short strikes.
Current USCI snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $101.13, ATM IV 31.90%, IV rank 27.95%, expected move 9.15%. The iron condor on USCI 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 iron condor structure on USCI specifically: USCI IV at 31.90% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling USCI iron condor collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 9.15% (roughly $9.25 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 USCI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on USCI should anchor to the underlying notional of $101.13 per share and to the trader's directional view on USCI etf.
USCI iron condor setup
The USCI iron condor below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With USCI near $101.13, the first option leg uses a $106.00 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 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 USCI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Call | $106.00 | $2.20 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $110.00 | $1.20 |
| Sell 1 | Put | $96.00 | $1.68 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $91.00 | $0.60 |
USCI iron condor risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$207.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $207.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$292.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $93.93, $108.08
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.709
Max profit equals the net credit times 100 inside the inner strikes; max loss equals wing width minus credit times 100. Two breakevens at inner strikes plus and minus the credit.
USCI iron condor payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the iron condor 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% | -$292.50 |
| $22.37 | -77.9% | -$292.50 |
| $44.73 | -55.8% | -$292.50 |
| $67.09 | -33.7% | -$292.50 |
| $89.45 | -11.6% | -$292.50 |
| $111.81 | +10.6% | -$192.50 |
| $134.17 | +32.7% | -$192.50 |
| $156.53 | +54.8% | -$192.50 |
| $178.88 | +76.9% | -$192.50 |
| $201.24 | +99.0% | -$192.50 |
When traders use iron condor on USCI
Iron condors on USCI are a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that profits if USCI etf stays inside the inner short strikes; short strikes typically sit near 1 standard deviation from spot.
USCI thesis for this iron condor
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for USCI extends from approximately $91.88 on the downside to $110.38 on the upside. A USCI iron condor is a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that pays off when USCI stays inside the inner short strikes through expiration; the wing width should reflect the trader's tolerance for the maximum loss scenario where the underlying breaches an outer strike. Current USCI IV rank near 27.95% 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 USCI at 31.90%. 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 iron condor positions are structurally neutral / range-bound; 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. Short-premium structures like a iron condor on USCI carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical USCI earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current USCI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a iron condor on USCI?
- A iron condor on USCI is the iron condor strategy applied to USCI (etf). The strategy is structurally neutral / range-bound: An iron condor sells a call spread and a put spread at strikes outside spot, collecting net premium that is kept if the underlying stays inside the inner short strikes. With USCI etf trading near $101.13, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed USCI chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are USCI iron condor max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals the net credit times 100 inside the inner strikes; max loss equals wing width minus credit times 100. Two breakevens at inner strikes plus and minus the credit. For the USCI iron condor priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 31.90%), the computed maximum profit is $207.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$292.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a USCI iron condor?
- The breakeven for the USCI iron condor priced on this page is roughly $93.93 and $108.08 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 USCI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.15%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a iron condor on USCI?
- Iron condors on USCI are a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that profits if USCI etf stays inside the inner short strikes; short strikes typically sit near 1 standard deviation from spot.
- How does current USCI implied volatility affect this iron condor?
- USCI ATM IV is at 31.90% with IV rank near 27.95%, 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.