BCRX Strangle Strategy
BCRX (BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company, discovers novel, oral, and small-molecule medicines. The company markets peramivir injection, an intravenous neuraminidase inhibitor for the treatment of acute uncomplicated influenza under the RAPIVAB, RAPIACTA, and PERAMIFLU names; and ORLADEYO, an oral serine protease inhibitor to treat hereditary angioedema. It is also developing BCX9930, an oral factor D inhibitor, which is in Phase II clinical trial for complement-mediated diseases; BCX9250, an oral activin receptor-like kinase-2 inhibitor that is in Phase I clinical trial to treat fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva; and Galidesivir, a RNA dependent-RNA polymerase inhibitor, which is in Phase I clinical trial to treat various RNA viruses, including Marburg, Yellow Fever, Ebola, and Zika. The company has collaborations and in-license relationships with the Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; Seqirus UK Limited; Shionogi & Co., Ltd.; Green Cross Corporation; Mundipharma International Holdings Limited; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and The University of Alabama at Birmingham, as well as Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Industrial Research, Ltd. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.
BCRX (BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.01B, a beta of 0.57 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 6-11.31, average daily share volume of 5.3M, a public-listing history dating back to 1994, approximately 580 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how BCRX stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.57 indicates BCRX 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 strangle on BCRX?
A long strangle buys an OTM call and an OTM put at offset strikes, cheaper than a straddle but requiring a larger underlying move to profit since both wings start out-of-the-money.
Current BCRX snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $9.07, ATM IV 61.90%, IV rank 21.58%, expected move 17.75%. The strangle on BCRX 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 strangle structure on BCRX specifically: BCRX IV at 61.90% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a BCRX strangle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 17.75% (roughly $1.61 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 BCRX expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on BCRX should anchor to the underlying notional of $9.07 per share and to the trader's directional view on BCRX stock.
BCRX strangle setup
The BCRX strangle below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With BCRX near $9.07, the first option leg uses a $9.52 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed BCRX 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 BCRX shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $9.52 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $8.62 | N/A |
BCRX strangle 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
Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the put strike minus the combined debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached anywhere between the two OTM strikes). Two breakevens at call-strike plus debit and put-strike minus debit.
BCRX strangle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the strangle on BCRX. 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 strangle on BCRX
Strangles on BCRX are the cheaper cousin of the straddle - traders use them when they want a large directional move but are willing to give up the inner-strike sensitivity in exchange for a lower up-front debit on the BCRX chain.
BCRX thesis for this strangle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for BCRX extends from approximately $7.46 on the downside to $10.68 on the upside. A BCRX long strangle is the OTM cousin of the straddle: lower up-front cost but the underlying has to travel further past either OTM strike before the position turns profitable at expiration. Current BCRX IV rank near 21.58% 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 BCRX at 61.90%. As a Healthcare name, BCRX options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to BCRX-specific events.
BCRX strangle positions are structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium, OTM); 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. BCRX positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move BCRX alongside the broader basket even when BCRX-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current BCRX chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a strangle on BCRX?
- A strangle on BCRX is the strangle strategy applied to BCRX (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium, OTM): A long strangle buys an OTM call and an OTM put at offset strikes, cheaper than a straddle but requiring a larger underlying move to profit since both wings start out-of-the-money. With BCRX stock trading near $9.07, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed BCRX chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are BCRX strangle max profit and max loss calculated?
- Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the put strike minus the combined debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached anywhere between the two OTM strikes). Two breakevens at call-strike plus debit and put-strike minus debit. For the BCRX strangle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 61.90%), 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 BCRX strangle?
- The breakeven for the BCRX strangle priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve 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 BCRX market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 17.75%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a strangle on BCRX?
- Strangles on BCRX are the cheaper cousin of the straddle - traders use them when they want a large directional move but are willing to give up the inner-strike sensitivity in exchange for a lower up-front debit on the BCRX chain.
- How does current BCRX implied volatility affect this strangle?
- BCRX ATM IV is at 61.90% with IV rank near 21.58%, 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.