CRSP Strangle Strategy
CRSP (CRISPR Therapeutics AG), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
CRISPR Therapeutics AG, a gene editing company, focuses on developing gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) platform. Its CRISPR/Cas9 is a gene editing technology that allows for precise directed changes to genomic DNA. The company has a portfolio of therapeutic programs across a range of disease areas, including hemoglobinopathies, oncology, regenerative medicine, and rare diseases. The company's lead product candidate is CTX001, an ex vivo CRISPR gene-edited therapy for treating patients suffering from transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia or severe sickle cell disease in which a patient's hematopoietic stem cells are engineered to produce high levels of fetal hemoglobin in red blood cells. It also develops CTX110, a donor-derived gene-edited allogeneic CAR-T investigational therapy targeting cluster of differentiation 19 positive malignancies; CTX120, a donor-derived gene-edited allogeneic CAR-T investigational therapy targeting B-cell maturation antigen for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; and CTX130, a donor-derived gene-edited allogeneic CAR-T investigational therapy targeting Cluster of Differentiation 70 to treat various solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. In addition, the company develops VCTX210, a gene-edited immune-evasive stem cell-derived product candidate for the treatment of treatment of type 1 diabetes; and pursues various in vivo gene-editing programs that target the liver, lung, muscle, and central nervous system diseases.
CRSP (CRISPR Therapeutics AG) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $5.09B, a beta of 1.74 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 34.87-78.48, average daily share volume of 1.9M, a public-listing history dating back to 2016, approximately 393 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CRSP stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.74 indicates CRSP has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position.
What is a strangle on CRSP?
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 CRSP snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $48.77, ATM IV 53.87%, IV rank 12.78%, expected move 15.45%. The strangle on CRSP 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 28-day expiry.
Why this strangle structure on CRSP specifically: CRSP IV at 53.87% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CRSP strangle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 15.45% (roughly $7.53 on the underlying). The 28-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated CRSP expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CRSP should anchor to the underlying notional of $48.77 per share and to the trader's directional view on CRSP stock.
CRSP strangle setup
The CRSP 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 CRSP near $48.77, the first option leg uses a $51.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CRSP chain at a 28-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 CRSP shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $51.00 | $1.88 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $46.00 | $1.63 |
CRSP strangle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$350.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$350.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $42.50, $54.50
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- Unbounded
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.
CRSP strangle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the strangle on CRSP. 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% | +$4,249.00 |
| $10.79 | -77.9% | +$3,170.78 |
| $21.57 | -55.8% | +$2,092.56 |
| $32.36 | -33.7% | +$1,014.34 |
| $43.14 | -11.5% | -$63.88 |
| $53.92 | +10.6% | -$57.89 |
| $64.70 | +32.7% | +$1,020.33 |
| $75.49 | +54.8% | +$2,098.55 |
| $86.27 | +76.9% | +$3,176.77 |
| $97.05 | +99.0% | +$4,254.99 |
When traders use strangle on CRSP
Strangles on CRSP 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 CRSP chain.
CRSP thesis for this strangle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CRSP extends from approximately $41.24 on the downside to $56.30 on the upside. A CRSP 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 CRSP IV rank near 12.78% 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 CRSP at 53.87%. As a Healthcare name, CRSP options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CRSP-specific events.
CRSP 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. CRSP positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CRSP alongside the broader basket even when CRSP-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CRSP chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a strangle on CRSP?
- A strangle on CRSP is the strangle strategy applied to CRSP (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 CRSP stock trading near $48.77, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CRSP chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CRSP 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 CRSP strangle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 53.87%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$350.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CRSP strangle?
- The breakeven for the CRSP strangle priced on this page is roughly $42.50 and $54.50 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 CRSP market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 15.45%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a strangle on CRSP?
- Strangles on CRSP 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 CRSP chain.
- How does current CRSP implied volatility affect this strangle?
- CRSP ATM IV is at 53.87% with IV rank near 12.78%, 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.