FCN Straddle Strategy
FCN (FTI Consulting, Inc.), in the Industrials sector, (Consulting Services industry), listed on NYSE.
FTI Consulting, Inc. is a global advisory firm dedicated to assisting organizations in navigating significant transitions, mitigating potential risks, and resolving intricate disputes. The company structures its diverse expertise across five distinct segments. Its Corporate Finance & Restructuring division offers services encompassing business transformation, transactional support, and turnaround management for financially challenged entities. The Forensic and Litigation Consulting segment provides specialized guidance in areas such as construction and environmental issues, data analytics, dispute resolution, healthcare solutions, and risk investigations. Within Economic Consulting, clients receive advice on antitrust and competition matters, financial economics, and international arbitration. The Technology segment focuses on corporate legal operations, e-discovery and digital expertise, alongside information governance, privacy, and cybersecurity services.
FCN (FTI Consulting, Inc.) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Consulting Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.55B, a trailing P/E of 17.84, a beta of -0.05 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 137.65-189.3, average daily share volume of 496K, a public-listing history dating back to 1996, approximately 8K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how FCN stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of -0.05 indicates FCN 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 FCN?
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 FCN snapshot
As of June 29, 2026, spot at $149.38, ATM IV 34.00%, IV rank 43.91%, expected move 9.75%. The straddle on FCN 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 17-day expiry.
Why this straddle structure on FCN specifically: FCN IV at 34.00% 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 9.75% (roughly $14.56 on the underlying). The 17-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated FCN expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on FCN should anchor to the underlying notional of $149.38 per share and to the trader's directional view on FCN stock.
FCN straddle setup
The FCN 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 FCN near $149.38, the first option leg uses a $150.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed FCN chain at a 17-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 FCN shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $150.00 | $4.48 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $150.00 | $4.05 |
FCN straddle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$852.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$838.94
- Breakeven(s)
- $141.48, $158.53
- 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.
FCN straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on FCN. 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% | +$14,146.50 |
| $33.04 | -77.9% | +$10,843.74 |
| $66.07 | -55.8% | +$7,540.97 |
| $99.09 | -33.7% | +$4,238.21 |
| $132.12 | -11.6% | +$935.44 |
| $165.15 | +10.6% | +$662.32 |
| $198.18 | +32.7% | +$3,965.08 |
| $231.20 | +54.8% | +$7,267.85 |
| $264.23 | +76.9% | +$10,570.61 |
| $297.26 | +99.0% | +$13,873.37 |
When traders use straddle on FCN
Straddles on FCN are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy FCN straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
FCN thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for FCN extends from approximately $134.82 on the downside to $163.94 on the upside. A FCN 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 FCN IV rank near 43.91% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the straddle thesis on FCN should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Industrials name, FCN options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to FCN-specific events.
FCN 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. FCN positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move FCN alongside the broader basket even when FCN-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current FCN chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on FCN?
- A straddle on FCN is the straddle strategy applied to FCN (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 FCN stock trading near $149.38, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed FCN chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are FCN 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 FCN straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 34.00%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$838.94 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a FCN straddle?
- The breakeven for the FCN straddle priced on this page is roughly $141.48 and $158.53 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 FCN market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.75%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on FCN?
- Straddles on FCN are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy FCN 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 FCN implied volatility affect this straddle?
- FCN ATM IV is at 34.00% with IV rank near 43.91%, 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.