CLNE Strangle 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 strangle on CLNE?
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 CLNE snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $2.00, ATM IV 424.10%, IV rank 100.00%, expected move 121.59%. The strangle 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 strangle structure on CLNE specifically: CLNE IV at 424.10% is rich versus its 1-year range, which makes a premium-buying CLNE strangle relatively expensive in absolute-cost terms, 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 strangle setup
The CLNE 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 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 1 | Call | $2.10 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $1.90 | N/A |
CLNE 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.
CLNE strangle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the strangle 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 strangle on CLNE
Strangles on CLNE 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 CLNE chain.
CLNE thesis for this strangle
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 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 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 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. 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. Always rebuild the position from current CLNE chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a strangle on CLNE?
- A strangle on CLNE is the strangle strategy applied to CLNE (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 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 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 CLNE strangle 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 strangle?
- The breakeven for the CLNE 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 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 strangle on CLNE?
- Strangles on CLNE 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 CLNE chain.
- How does current CLNE implied volatility affect this strangle?
- 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.