FBNC Straddle Strategy
FBNC (First Bancorp), in the Financial Services sector, (Banks - Regional industry), listed on NASDAQ.
First Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for First Bank that provides banking products and services for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses primarily in North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina. It accepts deposit products, such as checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits, including certificate of deposits and individual retirement accounts. The company also offers loans for a range of consumer and commercial purposes comprising loans for business, real estate, personal, home improvement, and automobiles, as well as residential mortgages and small business administration loans; and accounts receivable financing and factoring, inventory financing, and purchase order financing services. In addition, it provides credit and debit cards, letter of credits, and safe deposit box rental services, as well as electronic funds transfer services consisting of wire transfers; and internet and mobile banking, cash management, bank-by-phone services, and remote deposit capture services. Further, the company offers investment and insurance products, such as mutual funds, annuities, long-term care insurance, life insurance, and company retirement plans, as well as property and casualty insurance products; and financial planning services. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 121 branches comprising 114 branch offices located in North Carolina and seven branches in South Carolina.
FBNC (First Bancorp) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Banks - Regional, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.39B, a trailing P/E of 19.71, a beta of 0.83 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 40-62.64, average daily share volume of 215K, a public-listing history dating back to 1987, approximately 1K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how FBNC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.83 places FBNC roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. FBNC pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on FBNC?
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 FBNC snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $57.49, ATM IV 46.40%, IV rank 16.04%, expected move 13.30%. The straddle on FBNC 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 FBNC specifically: FBNC IV at 46.40% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a FBNC straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 13.30% (roughly $7.65 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 FBNC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on FBNC should anchor to the underlying notional of $57.49 per share and to the trader's directional view on FBNC stock.
FBNC straddle setup
The FBNC 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 FBNC near $57.49, the first option leg uses a $57.49 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed FBNC 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 FBNC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $57.49 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $57.49 | N/A |
FBNC 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.
FBNC straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on FBNC. 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 FBNC
Straddles on FBNC are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy FBNC straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
FBNC thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for FBNC extends from approximately $49.84 on the downside to $65.14 on the upside. A FBNC 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 FBNC IV rank near 16.04% 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 FBNC at 46.40%. As a Financial Services name, FBNC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to FBNC-specific events.
FBNC 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. FBNC positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move FBNC alongside the broader basket even when FBNC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current FBNC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on FBNC?
- A straddle on FBNC is the straddle strategy applied to FBNC (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 FBNC stock trading near $57.49, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed FBNC chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are FBNC 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 FBNC straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 46.40%), 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 FBNC straddle?
- The breakeven for the FBNC 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 FBNC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 13.30%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on FBNC?
- Straddles on FBNC are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy FBNC 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 FBNC implied volatility affect this straddle?
- FBNC ATM IV is at 46.40% with IV rank near 16.04%, 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.