CPRX Strangle Strategy
CPRX (Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies for people with rare debilitating, chronic neuromuscular, and neurological diseases in the United States. It offers Firdapse, an amifampridine phosphate tablets for the treatment of patients with lambert-eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS); and Ruzurgi for the treatment of pediatric LEMS patients. The company also develops Firdapse for the treatment of MuSK antibody positive myasthenia gravis, and spinal muscular atrophy type 3, as well as to treat hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies. It has license agreements with BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.; and collaboration and license agreement with Endo Ventures Limited for the development and commercialization of generic Sabril tablets. The company was formerly known as Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners, Inc. and changed its name to Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in May 2015. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is based in Coral Gables, Florida.
CPRX (Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $3.81B, a trailing P/E of 17.21, a beta of 0.72 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 19.05-32.56, average daily share volume of 1.8M, a public-listing history dating back to 2006, approximately 181 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CPRX stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.72 places CPRX roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a strangle on CPRX?
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 CPRX snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $31.16, ATM IV 5.20%, IV rank 0.92%, expected move 1.49%. The strangle on CPRX 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 CPRX specifically: CPRX IV at 5.20% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CPRX strangle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 1.49% (roughly $0.46 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 CPRX expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CPRX should anchor to the underlying notional of $31.16 per share and to the trader's directional view on CPRX stock.
CPRX strangle setup
The CPRX 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 CPRX near $31.16, the first option leg uses a $32.72 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CPRX 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 CPRX shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $32.72 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $29.60 | N/A |
CPRX 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.
CPRX strangle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the strangle on CPRX. 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 CPRX
Strangles on CPRX 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 CPRX chain.
CPRX thesis for this strangle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CPRX extends from approximately $30.70 on the downside to $31.62 on the upside. A CPRX 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 CPRX IV rank near 0.92% 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 CPRX at 5.20%. As a Healthcare name, CPRX options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CPRX-specific events.
CPRX 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. CPRX positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CPRX alongside the broader basket even when CPRX-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CPRX chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a strangle on CPRX?
- A strangle on CPRX is the strangle strategy applied to CPRX (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 CPRX stock trading near $31.16, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CPRX chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CPRX 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 CPRX strangle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 5.20%), 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 CPRX strangle?
- The breakeven for the CPRX 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 CPRX market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 1.49%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a strangle on CPRX?
- Strangles on CPRX 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 CPRX chain.
- How does current CPRX implied volatility affect this strangle?
- CPRX ATM IV is at 5.20% with IV rank near 0.92%, 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.