CORT Bull Call Spread Strategy
CORT (Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated discovers, develops, and commercializes drugs for the treatment of severe metabolic, oncologic, and neuropsychiatric disorders in the United States. The company offers Korlym (mifepristone) tablets as a once-daily oral medication for the treatment of hyperglycemia secondary to hypercortisolism in adult patients with endogenous Cushing's syndrome, who have type 2 diabetes mellitus or glucose intolerance, and have failed surgery or are not candidates for surgery. It is developing relacorilant to treat patients with Cushing's syndrome; and nab-paclitaxel in combination with relacorilant, which has completed Phase II clinical trial to treat patients with advanced ovarian tumors, as well as for the treatment of cortisol excess. The company is also developing selective cortisol modulator to treat patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer; selective cortisol modulator for the treatment of antipsychotic-induced weight gain and other disorders; and FKBP5 gene expression assays. Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.
CORT (Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $6.13B, a trailing P/E of 124.44, a beta of 0.36 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 28.66-91, average daily share volume of 1.7M, a public-listing history dating back to 2004, approximately 500 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CORT stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.36 indicates CORT has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. The trailing P/E of 124.44 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 bull call spread on CORT?
A bull call spread buys an at-the-money call and sells an out-of-the-money call at a higher strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width.
Current CORT snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $56.72, ATM IV 44.50%, IV rank 2.42%, expected move 12.76%. The bull call spread on CORT 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 bull call spread structure on CORT specifically: CORT IV at 44.50% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CORT bull call spread, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 12.76% (roughly $7.24 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 CORT expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CORT should anchor to the underlying notional of $56.72 per share and to the trader's directional view on CORT stock.
CORT bull call spread setup
The CORT bull call spread below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With CORT near $56.72, the first option leg uses a $57.50 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CORT 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 CORT shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $57.50 | $2.55 |
| Sell 1 | Call | $60.00 | $1.98 |
CORT bull call spread risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$57.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $192.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$57.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $58.08
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 3.348
Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-call strike plus net debit.
CORT bull call spread payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bull call spread on CORT. 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.
| Underlying Price | % From Spot | P&L at Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| $0.01 | -100.0% | -$57.50 |
| $12.55 | -77.9% | -$57.50 |
| $25.09 | -55.8% | -$57.50 |
| $37.63 | -33.7% | -$57.50 |
| $50.17 | -11.5% | -$57.50 |
| $62.71 | +10.6% | +$192.50 |
| $75.25 | +32.7% | +$192.50 |
| $87.79 | +54.8% | +$192.50 |
| $100.33 | +76.9% | +$192.50 |
| $112.87 | +99.0% | +$192.50 |
When traders use bull call spread on CORT
Bull call spreads on CORT reduce the cost of a bullish CORT stock position by selling a higher-strike call; suited to moderate-move theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
CORT thesis for this bull call spread
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CORT extends from approximately $49.48 on the downside to $63.96 on the upside. A CORT bull call spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bullish position; relative to an outright long call on CORT, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current CORT IV rank near 2.42% 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 CORT at 44.50%. As a Healthcare name, CORT options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CORT-specific events.
CORT bull call spread positions are structurally moderately 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. CORT positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CORT alongside the broader basket even when CORT-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bull call spread on CORT are particularly exposed to IV-crush risk through scheduled events (earnings, FDA decisions, central-bank meetings) where IV typically contracts post-event regardless of the directional outcome. Always rebuild the position from current CORT chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a bull call spread on CORT?
- A bull call spread on CORT is the bull call spread strategy applied to CORT (stock). The strategy is structurally moderately bullish: A bull call spread buys an at-the-money call and sells an out-of-the-money call at a higher strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width. With CORT stock trading near $56.72, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CORT chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CORT bull call spread max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-call strike plus net debit. For the CORT bull call spread priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 44.50%), the computed maximum profit is $192.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$57.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CORT bull call spread?
- The breakeven for the CORT bull call spread priced on this page is roughly $58.08 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 CORT market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 12.76%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a bull call spread on CORT?
- Bull call spreads on CORT reduce the cost of a bullish CORT stock position by selling a higher-strike call; suited to moderate-move theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
- How does current CORT implied volatility affect this bull call spread?
- CORT ATM IV is at 44.50% with IV rank near 2.42%, 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.