CRAI Collar Strategy
CRAI (CRA International, Inc.), in the Industrials sector, (Consulting Services industry), listed on NASDAQ.
CRA International, Inc., along with its affiliated entities, delivers specialized advisory services across the domains of economics, finance, and management in the United States, the United Kingdom, and globally. The firm provides expert guidance to clients on economic and financial considerations arising from legal disputes and regulatory challenges. Additionally, it collaborates with corporations to address matters of business strategy and operational effectiveness. Its comprehensive consulting offerings encompass in-depth research and analysis, expert witness testimony, and robust support for corporate clients and legal practitioners navigating litigation and regulatory proceedings. These services cover critical areas such as finance, accounting, economics, insurance, and forensic accounting and investigations. Moreover, CRA International's management consulting capabilities are extensive, covering areas like strategy formulation, performance enhancement, corporate strategic planning, portfolio analysis, market demand forecasting, new product pricing strategies, valuation of intellectual property and other assets, competitive intelligence, and the evaluation of new supply chain opportunities.
CRAI (CRA International, Inc.) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Consulting Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $944.5M, a trailing P/E of 19.86, a beta of 0.68 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 132.17-227.29, average daily share volume of 170K, a public-listing history dating back to 1998, approximately 947 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CRAI stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.68 indicates CRAI has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. CRAI pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a collar on CRAI?
A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot.
Current CRAI snapshot
As of June 30, 2026, spot at $142.58, ATM IV 44.50%, IV rank 4.84%, expected move 12.76%. The collar on CRAI 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 52-day expiry.
Why this collar structure on CRAI specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; compressed CRAI IV at 44.50% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 12.76% (roughly $18.19 on the underlying). The 52-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated CRAI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CRAI should anchor to the underlying notional of $142.58 per share and to the trader's directional view on CRAI stock.
CRAI collar setup
The CRAI collar below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With CRAI near $142.58, the first option leg uses a $150.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CRAI chain at a 52-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 CRAI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $142.58 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $150.00 | $6.50 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $135.00 | $6.55 |
CRAI collar risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$14,263.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $737.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$763.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $142.63
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.966
Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium.
CRAI collar payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar on CRAI. 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% | -$763.00 |
| $31.53 | -77.9% | -$763.00 |
| $63.06 | -55.8% | -$763.00 |
| $94.58 | -33.7% | -$763.00 |
| $126.11 | -11.6% | -$763.00 |
| $157.63 | +10.6% | +$737.00 |
| $189.15 | +32.7% | +$737.00 |
| $220.68 | +54.8% | +$737.00 |
| $252.20 | +76.9% | +$737.00 |
| $283.73 | +99.0% | +$737.00 |
When traders use collar on CRAI
Collars on CRAI hedge an existing long CRAI stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
CRAI thesis for this collar
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CRAI extends from approximately $124.39 on the downside to $160.77 on the upside. A CRAI collar hedges an existing long CRAI position with a protective put while financing the put cost via a short call; when the premiums roughly offset, the collar acts as a near-zero-cost insurance band around the current spot. Current CRAI IV rank near 4.84% 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 CRAI at 44.50%. As a Industrials name, CRAI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CRAI-specific events.
CRAI collar positions are structurally neutral (protective); 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. CRAI positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CRAI alongside the broader basket even when CRAI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CRAI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a collar on CRAI?
- A collar on CRAI is the collar strategy applied to CRAI (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral (protective): A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot. With CRAI stock trading near $142.58, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CRAI chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CRAI collar max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium. For the CRAI collar priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 44.50%), the computed maximum profit is $737.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$763.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CRAI collar?
- The breakeven for the CRAI collar priced on this page is roughly $142.63 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 CRAI 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 collar on CRAI?
- Collars on CRAI hedge an existing long CRAI stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
- How does current CRAI implied volatility affect this collar?
- CRAI ATM IV is at 44.50% with IV rank near 4.84%, 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.