CYH Straddle Strategy
CYH (Community Health Systems, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Care Facilities industry), listed on NYSE.
Community Health Systems, Inc. owns, leases, and operates general acute care hospitals in the United States. It offers general acute care, emergency room, general and specialty surgery, critical care, internal medicine, obstetrics, diagnostic, psychiatric, and rehabilitation services, as well as skilled nursing and home care services. The company also provides outpatient services at primary care practices, urgent care centers, free-standing emergency departments, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging and diagnostic centers, retail clinics, and direct-to-consumer virtual health visits. As of December 31, 2021, it owned or leased 83 hospitals, including 81 general acute care hospitals and two stand-alone rehabilitation or psychiatric hospitals with an aggregate of 13,289 licensed beds. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee.
CYH (Community Health Systems, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Care Facilities, with a market capitalization of approximately $410.1M, a beta of 1.89 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 2.38-4.47, average daily share volume of 1.7M, a public-listing history dating back to 2000, approximately 45K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CYH stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.89 indicates CYH 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 straddle on CYH?
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 CYH snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $2.81, ATM IV 71.30%, IV rank 11.09%, expected move 20.44%. The straddle on CYH 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 CYH specifically: CYH IV at 71.30% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CYH straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 20.44% (roughly $0.57 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 CYH expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CYH should anchor to the underlying notional of $2.81 per share and to the trader's directional view on CYH stock.
CYH straddle setup
The CYH 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 CYH near $2.81, the first option leg uses a $2.81 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CYH 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 CYH shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $2.81 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $2.81 | N/A |
CYH straddle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- N/A
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Breakeven(s)
- None on modeled curve
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- N/A
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.
CYH straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on CYH. 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.
When traders use straddle on CYH
Straddles on CYH are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy CYH straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
CYH thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CYH extends from approximately $2.24 on the downside to $3.38 on the upside. A CYH 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 CYH IV rank near 11.09% 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 CYH at 71.30%. As a Healthcare name, CYH options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CYH-specific events.
CYH 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. CYH positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CYH alongside the broader basket even when CYH-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CYH chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on CYH?
- A straddle on CYH is the straddle strategy applied to CYH (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 CYH stock trading near $2.81, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CYH chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CYH 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 CYH straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 71.30%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is unbounded per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CYH straddle?
- The breakeven for the CYH straddle priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve 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 CYH market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 20.44%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on CYH?
- Straddles on CYH are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy CYH 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 CYH implied volatility affect this straddle?
- CYH ATM IV is at 71.30% with IV rank near 11.09%, 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.