ACM Straddle Strategy
ACM (Aecom), in the Industrials sector, (Engineering & Construction industry), listed on NYSE.
AECOM, together with its subsidiaries, provides professional infrastructure consulting services for governments, businesses, and organizations in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through three segments: Americas, International, and AECOM Capital. The company offers planning, consulting, architectural and engineering design, construction and program management, and investment and development services to commercial and government clients. It also invests in and develops real estate projects. In addition, the company provides construction services, including building construction and energy, and infrastructure and industrial construction. It serves transportation, water, government, facilities, environmental, and energy sectors.
ACM (Aecom) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Engineering & Construction, with a market capitalization of approximately $9.12B, a trailing P/E of 17.95, a beta of 1.00 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 67.64-135.52, average daily share volume of 1.3M, a public-listing history dating back to 2007, approximately 51K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how ACM stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.00 places ACM roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. ACM pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on ACM?
A long straddle buys an ATM call and an ATM put at the same strike, profiting from a large move in either direction; max loss equals the combined debit when the underlying pins to the strike at expiration.
Current ACM snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $71.28, ATM IV 38.10%, IV rank 28.88%, expected move 10.92%. The straddle on ACM 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 straddle structure on ACM specifically: ACM IV at 38.10% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a ACM straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 10.92% (roughly $7.79 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 ACM expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on ACM should anchor to the underlying notional of $71.28 per share and to the trader's directional view on ACM stock.
ACM straddle setup
The ACM straddle below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With ACM near $71.28, the first option leg uses a $72.50 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed ACM 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 ACM shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $72.50 | $2.93 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $72.50 | $3.90 |
ACM straddle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$682.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$668.45
- Breakeven(s)
- $65.68, $79.33
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- Unbounded
Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the strike minus the combined call plus put debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached when the underlying pins to the strike). Two breakevens at strike plus debit and strike minus debit.
ACM straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on ACM. 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% | +$6,566.50 |
| $15.77 | -77.9% | +$4,990.57 |
| $31.53 | -55.8% | +$3,414.64 |
| $47.29 | -33.7% | +$1,838.71 |
| $63.05 | -11.5% | +$262.78 |
| $78.81 | +10.6% | -$51.85 |
| $94.57 | +32.7% | +$1,524.08 |
| $110.33 | +54.8% | +$3,100.01 |
| $126.08 | +76.9% | +$4,675.94 |
| $141.84 | +99.0% | +$6,251.87 |
When traders use straddle on ACM
Straddles on ACM are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy ACM straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
ACM thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for ACM extends from approximately $63.49 on the downside to $79.07 on the upside. A ACM long straddle is a pure-volatility play: it profits when the underlying moves far enough from the strike in either direction to overcome the combined call plus put debit, regardless of direction. Current ACM IV rank near 28.88% 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 ACM at 38.10%. As a Industrials name, ACM options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to ACM-specific events.
ACM straddle positions are structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium); 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. ACM positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move ACM alongside the broader basket even when ACM-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current ACM chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on ACM?
- A straddle on ACM is the straddle strategy applied to ACM (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium): A long straddle buys an ATM call and an ATM put at the same strike, profiting from a large move in either direction; max loss equals the combined debit when the underlying pins to the strike at expiration. With ACM stock trading near $71.28, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed ACM chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are ACM straddle max profit and max loss calculated?
- Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the strike minus the combined call plus put debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached when the underlying pins to the strike). Two breakevens at strike plus debit and strike minus debit. For the ACM straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 38.10%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$668.45 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a ACM straddle?
- The breakeven for the ACM straddle priced on this page is roughly $65.68 and $79.33 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 ACM market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 10.92%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on ACM?
- Straddles on ACM are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy ACM straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
- How does current ACM implied volatility affect this straddle?
- ACM ATM IV is at 38.10% with IV rank near 28.88%, 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.