FDUS Straddle Strategy
FDUS (Fidus Investment Corporation), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Fidus Investment Corporation functions as a Business Development Company (BDC), offering capital solutions for diverse corporate endeavors. These encompass management buyouts, debt restructuring, ownership transitions, capital reorganizations, strategic acquisitions, and initiatives for growth and business expansion, frequently employing mezzanine financing. The firm's financial instruments span a variety of debt options, including senior secured, unitranche, subordinated, junior secured, and second lien loans, in addition to senior subordinated notes, preferred equity, and warrants. Notably, Fidus explicitly refrains from investing in distressed companies or those undergoing turnarounds. The company prioritizes investments in sectors such as aerospace and defense, a broad spectrum of business services, consumer products and services (including retail, food, and beverage), healthcare products and services, industrial goods and services, information technology services, specialized manufacturing, transportation and logistics, and value-added distribution. Its geographic focus is exclusively on enterprises located within the United States.
FDUS (Fidus Investment Corporation) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management, with a market capitalization of approximately $743.5M, a trailing P/E of 9.62, a beta of 0.73 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 16.87-21.67, average daily share volume of 325K, a public-listing history dating back to 2011. These structural characteristics shape how FDUS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.73 places FDUS roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 9.62 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. FDUS pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on FDUS?
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.
FDUS snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $19.65, ATM IV 54.20%, IV rank 10.07%, expected move 15.54%. The straddle on FDUS below is built from the end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 35-day expiry.
Why this straddle structure on FDUS specifically: FDUS IV at 54.20% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a FDUS straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 15.54% (roughly $3.05 on the underlying). The 35-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated FDUS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on FDUS should anchor to the underlying notional of $19.65 per share and to the trader's directional view on FDUS stock.
FDUS straddle setup
The FDUS 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 FDUS at $19.65 on that close, the first option leg uses a $19.65 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed FDUS chain at a 35-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 FDUS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $19.65 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $19.65 | N/A |
FDUS 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.
FDUS straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on FDUS. 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 FDUS
Straddles on FDUS are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy FDUS straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
FDUS thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for FDUS extends from approximately $16.60 on the downside to $22.70 on the upside. A FDUS 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 FDUS IV rank near 10.07% 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 FDUS at 54.20%. As a Financial Services name, FDUS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to FDUS-specific events.
FDUS 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. FDUS positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move FDUS alongside the broader basket even when FDUS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current FDUS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on FDUS?
- A straddle on FDUS is the straddle strategy applied to FDUS (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 FDUS stock at $19.65 on the most recent close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed FDUS chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are FDUS 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 FDUS straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 54.20%), 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 FDUS straddle?
- The breakeven for the FDUS straddle priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve at expiration, derived from the end-of-day chain's premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The FDUS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 15.54%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on FDUS?
- Straddles on FDUS are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy FDUS 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 FDUS implied volatility affect this straddle?
- FDUS ATM IV is at 54.20% with IV rank near 10.07%, 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.