CAI Strangle Strategy
CAI (Caris Life Sciences, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Caris Life Sciences, Inc., an artificial intelligence TechBio company, provides molecular profiling services in the United States and internationally. It develops and commercializes solutions to transform healthcare using molecular information, and machine learning algorithms. The company's molecular profiling services portfolio includes MI Profile, a tissue-based molecular profiling solution; and Caris Assure, a blood-based molecular profiling solution for cancer treatment. It also offers pharma research and development services comprising laboratory delivery, strategic data, and research services to biopharmaceutical customers. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.
CAI (Caris Life Sciences, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.15B, a trailing P/E of 122.15, a beta of 1.09 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 14.19-42.5, average daily share volume of 2.4M, a public-listing history dating back to 2025, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CAI stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.09 places CAI roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 122.15 is on the rich side, which tends to correlate with higher earnings-window IV expansion as the market debates whether forward growth supports the multiple.
What is a strangle on CAI?
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 CAI snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $14.82, ATM IV 81.80%, IV rank 21.43%, expected move 23.45%. The strangle on CAI 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 CAI specifically: CAI IV at 81.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CAI strangle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 23.45% (roughly $3.48 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 CAI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CAI should anchor to the underlying notional of $14.82 per share and to the trader's directional view on CAI stock.
CAI strangle setup
The CAI 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 CAI near $14.82, the first option leg uses a $15.56 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CAI 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 CAI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $15.56 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $14.08 | N/A |
CAI 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.
CAI strangle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the strangle on CAI. 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 CAI
Strangles on CAI 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 CAI chain.
CAI thesis for this strangle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CAI extends from approximately $11.34 on the downside to $18.30 on the upside. A CAI 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 CAI IV rank near 21.43% 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 CAI at 81.80%. As a Healthcare name, CAI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CAI-specific events.
CAI 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. CAI positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CAI alongside the broader basket even when CAI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CAI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a strangle on CAI?
- A strangle on CAI is the strangle strategy applied to CAI (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 CAI stock trading near $14.82, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CAI chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CAI 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 CAI strangle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 81.80%), 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 CAI strangle?
- The breakeven for the CAI 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 CAI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 23.45%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a strangle on CAI?
- Strangles on CAI 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 CAI chain.
- How does current CAI implied volatility affect this strangle?
- CAI ATM IV is at 81.80% with IV rank near 21.43%, 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.