CLNE Covered Call Strategy
CLNE (Clean Energy Fuels Corp.), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. provides natural gas as an alternative fuel for vehicle fleets and related fueling solutions, primarily in the United States and Canada. It supplies renewable natural gas (RNG), compressed natural gas (CNG), and liquefied natural gas (LNG) for medium and heavy-duty vehicles; and offers operation and maintenance services for public and private vehicle fleet customer stations. The company also designs, builds, operates, and maintains fueling stations; and sells and services compressors and other equipment that are used in RNG production and fueling stations. In addition, it transports and sells CNG, RNG, and LNG through virtual natural gas pipelines and interconnects; sells U.S. federal, state, and local government credits, such as RNG as a vehicle fuel, including Renewable Identification Numbers and Low Carbon Fuel Standards credits; and obtains federal, state, and local credits, grants, and incentives. Further, the company focuses on developing, owning, and operating dairy and other livestock waste RNG projects. It serves heavy-duty trucking, airports, refuse, public transit, industrial, and institutional energy users, as well as government fleets.
CLNE (Clean Energy Fuels Corp.) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing, with a market capitalization of approximately $451.5M, a beta of 1.93 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 1.69-3.11, average daily share volume of 1.4M, a public-listing history dating back to 2007, approximately 577 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CLNE stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.93 indicates CLNE has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position.
What is a covered call on CLNE?
A covered call pairs long stock with a short out-of-the-money call, collecting premium and capping upside above the short strike in exchange for income.
Current CLNE snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $2.00, ATM IV 424.10%, IV rank 100.00%, expected move 121.59%. The covered call on CLNE 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 covered call structure on CLNE specifically: CLNE IV at 424.10% is rich versus its 1-year range, which favors premium-selling structures like a CLNE covered call, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 121.59% (roughly $2.43 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 CLNE expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CLNE should anchor to the underlying notional of $2.00 per share and to the trader's directional view on CLNE stock.
CLNE covered call setup
The CLNE covered call below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With CLNE near $2.00, the first option leg uses a $2.10 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CLNE 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 CLNE shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $2.00 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $2.10 | N/A |
CLNE covered call 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
Max profit equals short-strike minus cost basis plus premium times 100; max loss is cost basis minus premium (at zero). Breakeven is cost basis minus premium.
CLNE covered call payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the covered call on CLNE. 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 covered call on CLNE
Covered calls on CLNE are an income strategy run on existing CLNE stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
CLNE thesis for this covered call
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CLNE extends from approximately $-0.43 on the downside to $4.43 on the upside. A CLNE covered call collects premium on an existing long CLNE position, trading off upside above the short call strike for immediate income; the short strike selection should reflect the trader's view on whether CLNE will breach that level within the expiration window. Current CLNE IV rank near 100.00% sits in the upper third of its 1-year distribution, which historically reverts; this raises the bar for premium-buying structures and lowers it for premium-selling structures on CLNE at 424.10%. As a Energy name, CLNE options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CLNE-specific events.
CLNE covered call positions are structurally neutral to slightly bullish; 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. CLNE positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CLNE alongside the broader basket even when CLNE-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a covered call on CLNE carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical CLNE earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current CLNE chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a covered call on CLNE?
- A covered call on CLNE is the covered call strategy applied to CLNE (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral to slightly bullish: A covered call pairs long stock with a short out-of-the-money call, collecting premium and capping upside above the short strike in exchange for income. With CLNE stock trading near $2.00, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CLNE chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CLNE covered call max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals short-strike minus cost basis plus premium times 100; max loss is cost basis minus premium (at zero). Breakeven is cost basis minus premium. For the CLNE covered call priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 424.10%), 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 CLNE covered call?
- The breakeven for the CLNE covered call 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 CLNE market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 121.59%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a covered call on CLNE?
- Covered calls on CLNE are an income strategy run on existing CLNE stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
- How does current CLNE implied volatility affect this covered call?
- CLNE ATM IV is at 424.10% with IV rank near 100.00%, which is elevated relative to its 1-year range. Premium-selling structures (covered call, cash-secured put, iron condor) generally look more attractive when IV rank is high; premium-buying structures (long call, long put, debit spreads) are more expensive in that regime.