FRST Straddle Strategy
FRST (Primis Financial Corp.), in the Financial Services sector, (Banks - Regional industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Primis Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Primis Bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals and small and medium sized businesses in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, NOW, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. The company also offers commercial business and real estate, construction, secured asset based, small business administration, mortgage warehouse lending products, as well as financing for medical, dental, and veterinary businesses; residential mortgage, trust mortgage, home equity lines of credit, secured and unsecured personal, and consumer loans, as well as life insurance premium financing and demand loans. It also offers cash management services comprising investment/sweep, zero balance, and controlled disbursement accounts; and wire transfer, employer/payroll processing, night depository, depository transfer, merchant, ACH origination, and remote deposit capture services. In addition, the company provides debit cards, ATM services, notary services, and mobile and online banking. As of December 31, 2021, it operated forty full-service branches in Virginia and Maryland.
FRST (Primis Financial Corp.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Banks - Regional, with a market capitalization of approximately $346.1M, a trailing P/E of 7.47, a beta of 0.76 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 9.19-14.97, average daily share volume of 186K, a public-listing history dating back to 2006, approximately 592 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how FRST stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.76 places FRST roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 7.47 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. FRST pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on FRST?
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 FRST snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $13.78, ATM IV 75.90%, IV rank 11.92%, expected move 21.76%. The straddle on FRST 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 FRST specifically: FRST IV at 75.90% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a FRST straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 21.76% (roughly $3.00 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 FRST expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on FRST should anchor to the underlying notional of $13.78 per share and to the trader's directional view on FRST stock.
FRST straddle setup
The FRST 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 FRST near $13.78, the first option leg uses a $13.78 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed FRST 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 FRST shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $13.78 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $13.78 | N/A |
FRST 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.
FRST straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on FRST. 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 FRST
Straddles on FRST are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy FRST straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
FRST thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for FRST extends from approximately $10.78 on the downside to $16.78 on the upside. A FRST 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 FRST IV rank near 11.92% 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 FRST at 75.90%. As a Financial Services name, FRST options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to FRST-specific events.
FRST 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. FRST positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move FRST alongside the broader basket even when FRST-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current FRST chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on FRST?
- A straddle on FRST is the straddle strategy applied to FRST (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 FRST stock trading near $13.78, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed FRST chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are FRST 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 FRST straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 75.90%), 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 FRST straddle?
- The breakeven for the FRST 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 FRST market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 21.76%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on FRST?
- Straddles on FRST are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy FRST 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 FRST implied volatility affect this straddle?
- FRST ATM IV is at 75.90% with IV rank near 11.92%, 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.