HTH Straddle Strategy
HTH (Hilltop Holdings Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Banks - Regional industry), listed on NYSE.
Hilltop Holdings Inc. provides business and consumer banking, and financial products and services. It operates through three segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer, and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment offers savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; lines and letters of credit, home improvement and equity loans, loans for purchasing and carrying securities, equipment loans and leases, agricultural and commercial real estate loans, and other loans; and commercial and industrial loans, and term and construction finance. This segment also provides treasury management, wealth management, asset management, check cards, safe deposit boxes, online banking, bill pay, trust, and overdraft services; and estate planning, management and administration, investment portfolio management, employee benefit accounts, and individual retirement accounts, as well as automated teller machines. The Broker-Dealer segment offers public finance services that assist public entities in originating, syndicating, and distributing securities of municipalities and political subdivisions; specialized advisory and investment banking services; advice and guidance to arbitrage rebate compliance, portfolio management, and local government investment pool administration; structured finance services, which include advisory services for derivatives and commodities; sells, trades in, and underwrites U.S. government and government agency bonds, corporate bonds, and municipal bonds, as well as mortgage-backed, asset-backed, and commercial mortgage-backed securities and structured products. This segment also provides asset and liability management advisory, clearing, retail, and securities lending services.
HTH (Hilltop Holdings Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Banks - Regional, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.14B, a trailing P/E of 13.41, a beta of 0.89 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 28.92-40.41, average daily share volume of 359K, a public-listing history dating back to 2004, approximately 4K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how HTH stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.89 places HTH roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. HTH pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on HTH?
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 HTH snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $36.33, ATM IV 60.50%, IV rank 12.38%, expected move 17.34%. The straddle on HTH 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 HTH specifically: HTH IV at 60.50% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a HTH straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 17.34% (roughly $6.30 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 HTH expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on HTH should anchor to the underlying notional of $36.33 per share and to the trader's directional view on HTH stock.
HTH straddle setup
The HTH 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 HTH near $36.33, the first option leg uses a $36.33 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed HTH 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 HTH shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $36.33 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $36.33 | N/A |
HTH 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.
HTH straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on HTH. 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 HTH
Straddles on HTH are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy HTH straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
HTH thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for HTH extends from approximately $30.03 on the downside to $42.63 on the upside. A HTH 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 HTH IV rank near 12.38% 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 HTH at 60.50%. As a Financial Services name, HTH options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to HTH-specific events.
HTH 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. HTH positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move HTH alongside the broader basket even when HTH-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current HTH chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on HTH?
- A straddle on HTH is the straddle strategy applied to HTH (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 HTH stock trading near $36.33, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed HTH chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are HTH 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 HTH straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 60.50%), 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 HTH straddle?
- The breakeven for the HTH 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 HTH market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 17.34%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on HTH?
- Straddles on HTH are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy HTH 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 HTH implied volatility affect this straddle?
- HTH ATM IV is at 60.50% with IV rank near 12.38%, 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.