CARG Iron Condor Strategy

CARG (CarGurus, Inc.), in the Consumer Cyclical sector, (Auto - Dealerships industry), listed on NASDAQ.

CarGurus, Inc., established in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2005, manages a prominent online ecosystem for vehicle transactions, serving both buyers and sellers across the United States and internationally. The company's operations are divided into two main segments: the U.S. Marketplace and Digital Wholesale. Essentially, CarGurus offers an expansive digital automotive marketplace where individuals can search for new and pre-owned vehicle listings from numerous dealerships. Simultaneously, it empowers dealers by linking them with a vast, engaged consumer base and supplying them with practical, data-driven market intelligence. The platform provides an array of specialized features to simplify the car buying and selling journey.

CARG (CarGurus, Inc.) trades in the Consumer Cyclical sector, specifically Auto - Dealerships, with a market capitalization of approximately $3.56B, a trailing P/E of 18.89, a beta of 1.18 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 26.39-41.22, average daily share volume of 1.3M, a public-listing history dating back to 2017, approximately 1K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CARG stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.

A beta of 1.18 places CARG 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 CARG?

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.

CARG snapshot

As of August 14, 2026, spot at $37.16, ATM IV 42.40%, IV rank 20.55%, expected move 12.16%. The iron condor on CARG 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 iron condor structure on CARG specifically: CARG IV at 42.40% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling CARG iron condor collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 12.16% (roughly $4.52 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 CARG expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CARG should anchor to the underlying notional of $37.16 per share and to the trader's directional view on CARG stock.

CARG iron condor setup

The CARG iron condor 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 CARG at $37.16 on that close, the first option leg uses a $39.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CARG 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 CARG shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).

ActionTypeStrike / BasisPremium (est)
Sell 1Call$39.00$1.80
Buy 1Call$41.00$0.83
Sell 1Put$35.00$0.98
Buy 1Put$33.00$0.44

CARG iron condor risk and reward

Net Premium / Debit
+$150.50
Max Profit (per contract)
$150.50
Max Loss (per contract)
-$49.50
Breakeven(s)
$33.50, $40.51
Risk / Reward Ratio
3.040

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.

CARG iron condor payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the iron condor on CARG. 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.

CARG iron condor profit and loss curve at expiration with breakevens and current spot markedCARG iron condor payoff at expiration$0$50$100$150$10$20$30$40$50$60$70Underlying Price ($)P&L at Expiration ($)BE $33.49BE $40.51Spot $37.16
P&L at expiration across the modeled underlying-price range. Green shading marks profitable regions, red shading marks loss regions. Dotted purple verticals mark breakevens; the solid dark vertical marks current spot.
Underlying Price% From SpotP&L at Expiration
$0.01-100.0%-$49.50
$8.23-77.9%-$49.50
$16.44-55.8%-$49.50
$24.66-33.7%-$49.50
$32.87-11.5%-$49.50
$41.09+10.6%-$49.50
$49.30+32.7%-$49.50
$57.52+54.8%-$49.50
$65.73+76.9%-$49.50
$73.95+99.0%-$49.50

When traders use iron condor on CARG

Iron condors on CARG are a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that profits if CARG stock stays inside the inner short strikes; short strikes typically sit near 1 standard deviation from spot.

CARG thesis for this iron condor

The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CARG extends from approximately $32.64 on the downside to $41.68 on the upside. A CARG iron condor is a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that pays off when CARG 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 CARG IV rank near 20.55% 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 CARG at 42.40%. As a Consumer Cyclical name, CARG options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CARG-specific events.

CARG 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. CARG positions also carry Consumer Cyclical sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CARG alongside the broader basket even when CARG-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a iron condor on CARG carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical CARG earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current CARG chain quotes before placing a trade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a iron condor on CARG?
A iron condor on CARG is the iron condor strategy applied to CARG (stock). 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 CARG stock at $37.16 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CARG chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
How are CARG 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 CARG iron condor priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 42.40%), the computed maximum profit is $150.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$49.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
What is the breakeven for a CARG iron condor?
The breakeven for the CARG iron condor priced on this page is roughly $33.50 and $40.51 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 CARG market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 12.16%; 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 CARG?
Iron condors on CARG are a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that profits if CARG stock stays inside the inner short strikes; short strikes typically sit near 1 standard deviation from spot.
How does current CARG implied volatility affect this iron condor?
CARG ATM IV is at 42.40% with IV rank near 20.55%, 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.

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