CWAN Straddle Strategy
CWAN (Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc.), in the Technology sector, (Software - Application industry), listed on NYSE.
Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc. develops and provides a Software-as-a-Service solution for automated investment data aggregation, reconciliation, accounting, and reporting services to insurers, investment managers, corporations, institutional investors, and government entities. The company offers investment accounting and reporting, performance measurement, compliance monitoring, and risk analytics solutions. Its Clearwater Prism solution enables self-service access to data feeds from accounting, compliance, performance, and risk systems, including those offered by the company and other third-party software vendors, as well as provides flexible reporting to various users. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is headquartered in Boise, Idaho.
CWAN (Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc.) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Software - Application, with a market capitalization of approximately $7.24B, a beta of 0.60 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 15.735-25.069, average daily share volume of 5.1M, a public-listing history dating back to 2021, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CWAN stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.60 indicates CWAN has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure.
What is a straddle on CWAN?
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 CWAN snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $24.34, ATM IV 15.29%, IV rank 11.63%, expected move 4.38%. The straddle on CWAN 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 straddle structure on CWAN specifically: CWAN IV at 15.29% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CWAN straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 4.38% (roughly $1.07 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 CWAN expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CWAN should anchor to the underlying notional of $24.34 per share and to the trader's directional view on CWAN stock.
CWAN straddle setup
The CWAN 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 CWAN near $24.34, the first option leg uses a $24.50 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CWAN 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 CWAN shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $24.50 | $0.70 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $24.50 | $0.79 |
CWAN straddle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$149.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$145.73
- Breakeven(s)
- $23.01, $25.99
- 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.
CWAN straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on CWAN. 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% | +$2,300.00 |
| $5.39 | -77.9% | +$1,761.94 |
| $10.77 | -55.7% | +$1,223.88 |
| $16.15 | -33.6% | +$685.82 |
| $21.53 | -11.5% | +$147.76 |
| $26.91 | +10.6% | +$92.30 |
| $32.29 | +32.7% | +$630.36 |
| $37.67 | +54.8% | +$1,168.42 |
| $43.05 | +76.9% | +$1,706.48 |
| $48.44 | +99.0% | +$2,244.54 |
When traders use straddle on CWAN
Straddles on CWAN are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy CWAN straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
CWAN thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CWAN extends from approximately $23.27 on the downside to $25.41 on the upside. A CWAN 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 CWAN IV rank near 11.63% 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 CWAN at 15.29%. As a Technology name, CWAN options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CWAN-specific events.
CWAN 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. CWAN positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CWAN alongside the broader basket even when CWAN-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CWAN chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on CWAN?
- A straddle on CWAN is the straddle strategy applied to CWAN (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 CWAN stock trading near $24.34, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CWAN chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CWAN 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 CWAN straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 15.29%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$145.73 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CWAN straddle?
- The breakeven for the CWAN straddle priced on this page is roughly $23.01 and $25.99 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 CWAN market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 4.38%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on CWAN?
- Straddles on CWAN are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy CWAN 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 CWAN implied volatility affect this straddle?
- CWAN ATM IV is at 15.29% with IV rank near 11.63%, 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.