CORT Covered Call 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 covered call on CORT?
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 CORT snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $56.72, ATM IV 44.50%, IV rank 2.42%, expected move 12.76%. The covered call 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 covered call structure on CORT specifically: CORT IV at 44.50% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling CORT covered call collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, 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 covered call setup
The CORT 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 CORT near $56.72, the first option leg uses a $60.00 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 100 shares | Stock | $56.72 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $60.00 | $1.98 |
CORT covered call risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$5,474.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $525.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$5,473.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $54.75
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.096
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.
CORT covered call payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the covered call 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% | -$5,473.50 |
| $12.55 | -77.9% | -$4,219.50 |
| $25.09 | -55.8% | -$2,965.50 |
| $37.63 | -33.7% | -$1,711.50 |
| $50.17 | -11.5% | -$457.50 |
| $62.71 | +10.6% | +$525.50 |
| $75.25 | +32.7% | +$525.50 |
| $87.79 | +54.8% | +$525.50 |
| $100.33 | +76.9% | +$525.50 |
| $112.87 | +99.0% | +$525.50 |
When traders use covered call on CORT
Covered calls on CORT are an income strategy run on existing CORT stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
CORT thesis for this covered call
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 covered call collects premium on an existing long CORT position, trading off upside above the short call strike for immediate income; the short strike selection should reflect the trader's view on whether CORT will breach that level within the expiration window. 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 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. 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. Short-premium structures like a covered call on CORT carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical CORT earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current CORT chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a covered call on CORT?
- A covered call on CORT is the covered call strategy applied to CORT (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 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 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 CORT covered call priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 44.50%), the computed maximum profit is $525.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$5,473.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CORT covered call?
- The breakeven for the CORT covered call priced on this page is roughly $54.75 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 covered call on CORT?
- Covered calls on CORT are an income strategy run on existing CORT 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 CORT implied volatility affect this covered call?
- 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.