CTSH Straddle Strategy
CTSH (Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation), in the Technology sector, (Information Technology Services industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, a professional services company, provides consulting and technology, and outsourcing services in North America, Europe, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Financial Services; Healthcare; Products and Resources; and Communications, Media and Technology. The company offers customer experience enhancement, robotic process automation, analytics, and AI services in areas, such as digital lending, fraud detection, and next generation payments; the shift towards consumerism, outcome-based contracting, digital health, delivering integrated seamless, omni-channel, and patient-centered experience; and services that drive operational improvements in areas, such as clinical development, pharmacovigilance, and manufacturing, as well as claims processing, enrollment, membership, and billing to healthcare providers and payers, and life sciences companies, including pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies. It also provides solution to manufacturers, retailers and travel and hospitality companies, as well as companies providing logistics, energy and utility services; and digital content, the creation of personalized user experience, and acceleration of digital engineering services to information, media and entertainment, and communications and technology companies. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey.
CTSH (Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Information Technology Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $21.78B, a trailing P/E of 9.84, a beta of 0.80 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 45.48-87.03, average daily share volume of 7.0M, a public-listing history dating back to 1998, approximately 336K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CTSH stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.80 places CTSH roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 9.84 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. CTSH pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on CTSH?
A long straddle buys an ATM call and an ATM put at the same strike, profiting from a large move in either direction; max loss equals the combined debit when the underlying pins to the strike at expiration.
Current CTSH snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $47.12, ATM IV 41.20%, IV rank 64.82%, expected move 11.81%. The straddle on CTSH 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 straddle structure on CTSH specifically: CTSH IV at 41.20% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so strategy selection should anchor more to the directional thesis than to the IV regime, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 11.81% (roughly $5.57 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 CTSH expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CTSH should anchor to the underlying notional of $47.12 per share and to the trader's directional view on CTSH stock.
CTSH straddle setup
The CTSH straddle below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With CTSH near $47.12, the first option leg uses a $47.50 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CTSH 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 CTSH shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $47.50 | $2.05 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $47.50 | $2.60 |
CTSH straddle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$465.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$451.18
- Breakeven(s)
- $42.85, $52.15
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- Unbounded
Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the strike minus the combined call plus put debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached when the underlying pins to the strike). Two breakevens at strike plus debit and strike minus debit.
CTSH straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on CTSH. 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% | +$4,284.00 |
| $10.43 | -77.9% | +$3,242.26 |
| $20.84 | -55.8% | +$2,200.52 |
| $31.26 | -33.7% | +$1,158.78 |
| $41.68 | -11.5% | +$117.05 |
| $52.10 | +10.6% | -$5.31 |
| $62.51 | +32.7% | +$1,036.43 |
| $72.93 | +54.8% | +$2,078.17 |
| $83.35 | +76.9% | +$3,119.91 |
| $93.77 | +99.0% | +$4,161.65 |
When traders use straddle on CTSH
Straddles on CTSH are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy CTSH straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
CTSH thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CTSH extends from approximately $41.55 on the downside to $52.69 on the upside. A CTSH long straddle is a pure-volatility play: it profits when the underlying moves far enough from the strike in either direction to overcome the combined call plus put debit, regardless of direction. Current CTSH IV rank near 64.82% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the straddle thesis on CTSH should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Technology name, CTSH options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CTSH-specific events.
CTSH straddle positions are structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium); 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. CTSH positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CTSH alongside the broader basket even when CTSH-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CTSH chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on CTSH?
- A straddle on CTSH is the straddle strategy applied to CTSH (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium): A long straddle buys an ATM call and an ATM put at the same strike, profiting from a large move in either direction; max loss equals the combined debit when the underlying pins to the strike at expiration. With CTSH stock trading near $47.12, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CTSH chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CTSH straddle max profit and max loss calculated?
- Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the strike minus the combined call plus put debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached when the underlying pins to the strike). Two breakevens at strike plus debit and strike minus debit. For the CTSH straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 41.20%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$451.18 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CTSH straddle?
- The breakeven for the CTSH straddle priced on this page is roughly $42.85 and $52.15 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 CTSH market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 11.81%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on CTSH?
- Straddles on CTSH are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy CTSH straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
- How does current CTSH implied volatility affect this straddle?
- CTSH ATM IV is at 41.20% with IV rank near 64.82%, which is mid-range against its 1-year history. Strategy selection depends more on directional thesis and expected move than on a strong IV signal.