CMPX Strangle Strategy
CMPX (Compass Therapeutics, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Compass Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company, engages in developing antibody-based therapeutics to treat various human diseases. The company's product candidates in the clinical stage of development include CTX-009, an investigational bispecific antibody that blocks Delta-like ligand 4/Notch and vascular endothelial growth factor A signaling pathways, which are critical to angiogenesis and tumor vascularization; and CTX-471, an IgG4 monoclonal antibody that is an agonist of CD137. Its product candidates also comprise CTX-8371, a bispecific inhibitor that targets PD-1 and PD-L1. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
CMPX (Compass Therapeutics, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $272.4M, a beta of 0.67 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 1.61-6.88, average daily share volume of 7.0M, a public-listing history dating back to 2021, approximately 35 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CMPX stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.67 indicates CMPX 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 CMPX?
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 CMPX snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $1.90, ATM IV 51.40%, IV rank 6.75%, expected move 14.74%. The strangle on CMPX 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 CMPX specifically: CMPX IV at 51.40% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CMPX strangle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 14.74% (roughly $0.28 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 CMPX expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CMPX should anchor to the underlying notional of $1.90 per share and to the trader's directional view on CMPX stock.
CMPX strangle setup
The CMPX 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 CMPX near $1.90, the first option leg uses a $1.99 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CMPX 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 CMPX shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $1.99 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $1.81 | N/A |
CMPX 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.
CMPX strangle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the strangle on CMPX. 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 CMPX
Strangles on CMPX 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 CMPX chain.
CMPX thesis for this strangle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CMPX extends from approximately $1.62 on the downside to $2.18 on the upside. A CMPX 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 CMPX IV rank near 6.75% 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 CMPX at 51.40%. As a Healthcare name, CMPX options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CMPX-specific events.
CMPX 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. CMPX positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CMPX alongside the broader basket even when CMPX-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CMPX chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a strangle on CMPX?
- A strangle on CMPX is the strangle strategy applied to CMPX (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 CMPX stock trading near $1.90, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CMPX chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CMPX 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 CMPX strangle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 51.40%), 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 CMPX strangle?
- The breakeven for the CMPX 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 CMPX market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 14.74%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a strangle on CMPX?
- Strangles on CMPX 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 CMPX chain.
- How does current CMPX implied volatility affect this strangle?
- CMPX ATM IV is at 51.40% with IV rank near 6.75%, 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.