CXW Straddle Strategy
CXW (CoreCivic, Inc.), in the Real Estate sector, (REIT - Specialty industry), listed on NYSE.
CoreCivic, Inc. owns and operates partnership correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities in the United States. It operates through three segments: CoreCivic Safety, CoreCivic Community, and CoreCivic Properties. The company provides a range of solutions to government partners that serve the public good through corrections and detention management, a network of residential reentry centers to help address America's recidivism crisis, and government real estate solutions. Its correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities offer rehabilitation and educational programs, including basic education, faith-based services, life skills and employment training, and substance abuse treatment. As of December 31, 2021, the company owned and operated 46 correctional and detention facilities, 26 residential reentry centers, and 10 properties for lease. The company was founded in 1983 and is based in Brentwood, Tennessee.
CXW (CoreCivic, Inc.) trades in the Real Estate sector, specifically REIT - Specialty, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.04B, a trailing P/E of 16.44, a beta of 0.68 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 15.74-23.2, average daily share volume of 1.2M, a public-listing history dating back to 1997, approximately 12K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CXW stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.68 indicates CXW 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 CXW?
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 CXW snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $21.06, ATM IV 39.90%, IV rank 18.35%, expected move 11.44%. The straddle on CXW 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 CXW specifically: CXW IV at 39.90% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CXW straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 11.44% (roughly $2.41 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 CXW expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CXW should anchor to the underlying notional of $21.06 per share and to the trader's directional view on CXW stock.
CXW straddle setup
The CXW 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 CXW near $21.06, the first option leg uses a $21.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CXW 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 CXW shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $21.00 | $1.03 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $21.00 | $1.00 |
CXW straddle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$202.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$198.42
- Breakeven(s)
- $18.98, $23.03
- 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.
CXW straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on CXW. 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% | +$1,896.50 |
| $4.67 | -77.8% | +$1,430.96 |
| $9.32 | -55.7% | +$965.42 |
| $13.98 | -33.6% | +$499.89 |
| $18.63 | -11.5% | +$34.35 |
| $23.29 | +10.6% | +$26.19 |
| $27.94 | +32.7% | +$491.73 |
| $32.60 | +54.8% | +$957.26 |
| $37.25 | +76.9% | +$1,422.80 |
| $41.91 | +99.0% | +$1,888.34 |
When traders use straddle on CXW
Straddles on CXW are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy CXW straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
CXW thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CXW extends from approximately $18.65 on the downside to $23.47 on the upside. A CXW 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 CXW IV rank near 18.35% 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 CXW at 39.90%. As a Real Estate name, CXW options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CXW-specific events.
CXW 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. CXW positions also carry Real Estate sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CXW alongside the broader basket even when CXW-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CXW chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on CXW?
- A straddle on CXW is the straddle strategy applied to CXW (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 CXW stock trading near $21.06, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CXW chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CXW 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 CXW straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 39.90%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$198.42 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CXW straddle?
- The breakeven for the CXW straddle priced on this page is roughly $18.98 and $23.03 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 CXW market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 11.44%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on CXW?
- Straddles on CXW are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy CXW 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 CXW implied volatility affect this straddle?
- CXW ATM IV is at 39.90% with IV rank near 18.35%, 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.