How are HLI long call max profit and max loss calculated?

Max profit is unbounded; max loss equals the premium paid times 100. Breakeven is strike plus premium. For the HLI long call priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 32.50%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$610.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.

What is the breakeven for a HLI long call?

The breakeven for the HLI long call priced on this page is roughly $156.10 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 HLI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.32%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.

How does current HLI implied volatility affect this long call?

HLI ATM IV is at 32.50% with IV rank near 5.17%, 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.

HLI Long Call Strategy

HLI (Houlihan Lokey, Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Financial - Capital Markets industry), listed on NYSE.

Houlihan Lokey, Inc., an investment banking company, provides merger and acquisition (M&A), capital market, financial restructuring, and financial and valuation advisory services worldwide. It operates in three segments: Corporate Finance, Financial Restructuring, and Financial and Valuation Advisory. The Corporate Finance segment offers general financial advisory services; and advises public and private institutions on buy-side and sell-side transactions, leveraged loans, private mezzanine debt, high-yield debt, initial public offerings, follow-ons, convertibles, equity private placements, private equity, and liability management transactions, as well as advise financial sponsors on various transactions. The Financial Restructuring segment advises debtors, creditors, and other parties-in-interest related to recapitalization/deleveraging transactions. It also provides a range of advisory services, including structuring, negotiation, and confirmation of plans of reorganization; structuring and analysis of exchange offers; corporate viability assessment; dispute resolution and expert testimony; and procuring debtor-in-possession financing. The Financial and Valuation Advisory segment offers valuations of various assets, such as companies, illiquid debt and equity securities, and intellectual property.

HLI (Houlihan Lokey, Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Financial - Capital Markets, with a market capitalization of approximately $10.46B, a trailing P/E of 23.46, a beta of 1.00 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 134.41-211.777, average daily share volume of 653K, a public-listing history dating back to 2015, approximately 3K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how HLI stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.

A beta of 1.00 places HLI roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. HLI pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.

What is a long call on HLI?

A long call buys upside exposure with a fixed maximum loss equal to the premium paid; profit accrues if the underlying closes above the strike plus premium at expiration.

Current HLI snapshot

As of May 15, 2026, spot at $150.38, ATM IV 32.50%, IV rank 5.17%, expected move 9.32%. The long call on HLI 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 long call structure on HLI specifically: HLI IV at 32.50% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a HLI long call, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 9.32% (roughly $14.01 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 HLI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on HLI should anchor to the underlying notional of $150.38 per share and to the trader's directional view on HLI stock.

HLI long call setup

The HLI long call below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With HLI near $150.38, 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 HLI 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 HLI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).

Action	Type	Strike / Basis	Premium (est)
Buy 1	Call	$150.00	$6.10

HLI long call risk and reward

Net Premium / Debit: -$610.00
Max Profit (per contract): Unbounded
Max Loss (per contract): -$610.00
Breakeven(s): $156.10
Risk / Reward Ratio: Unbounded

Max profit is unbounded; max loss equals the premium paid times 100. Breakeven is strike plus premium.

HLI long call payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the long call on HLI. 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%	-$610.00
$33.26	-77.9%	-$610.00
$66.51	-55.8%	-$610.00
$99.76	-33.7%	-$610.00
$133.00	-11.6%	-$610.00
$166.25	+10.6%	+$1,015.37
$199.50	+32.7%	+$4,340.25
$232.75	+54.8%	+$7,665.12
$266.00	+76.9%	+$10,989.99
$299.25	+99.0%	+$14,314.87

When traders use long call on HLI

Long calls on HLI express a bullish thesis with defined risk; traders use them ahead of HLI catalysts (earnings, product launches, macro events) when the expected upside justifies the premium and theta decay.

HLI thesis for this long call

The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for HLI extends from approximately $136.37 on the downside to $164.39 on the upside. A HLI long call expresses a directional view that the underlying closes above the strike plus premium at expiration, ideally with implied volatility holding or expanding to preserve extrinsic value through the hold period. Current HLI IV rank near 5.17% 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 HLI at 32.50%. As a Financial Services name, HLI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to HLI-specific events.

HLI long call positions are structurally bullish; 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. HLI positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move HLI alongside the broader basket even when HLI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a long call on HLI are particularly exposed to IV-crush risk through scheduled events (earnings, FDA decisions, central-bank meetings) where IV typically contracts post-event regardless of the directional outcome. Always rebuild the position from current HLI chain quotes before placing a trade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a long call on HLI?: A long call on HLI is the long call strategy applied to HLI (stock). The strategy is structurally bullish: A long call buys upside exposure with a fixed maximum loss equal to the premium paid; profit accrues if the underlying closes above the strike plus premium at expiration. With HLI stock trading near $150.38, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed HLI chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
How are HLI long call max profit and max loss calculated?: Max profit is unbounded; max loss equals the premium paid times 100. Breakeven is strike plus premium. For the HLI long call priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 32.50%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$610.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
What is the breakeven for a HLI long call?: The breakeven for the HLI long call priced on this page is roughly $156.10 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 HLI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.32%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
When should you consider a long call on HLI?: Long calls on HLI express a bullish thesis with defined risk; traders use them ahead of HLI catalysts (earnings, product launches, macro events) when the expected upside justifies the premium and theta decay.
How does current HLI implied volatility affect this long call?: HLI ATM IV is at 32.50% with IV rank near 5.17%, 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.