KNSL Straddle Strategy
KNSL (Kinsale Capital Group, Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Insurance - Property & Casualty industry), listed on NYSE.
Kinsale Capital Group, Inc., a specialty insurance company, provides property and casualty insurance products in the United States. The company's commercial lines offerings include construction, small business, excess and general casualty, commercial property, allied health, life sciences, energy, environmental, health care, inland marine, public entity, and commercial insurance, as well as product, professional, and management liability insurance. It markets and sells its insurance products in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands primarily through a network of independent insurance brokers. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.
KNSL (Kinsale Capital Group, Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Insurance - Property & Casualty, with a market capitalization of approximately $6.93B, a trailing P/E of 13.10, a beta of 0.95 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 293.78-512.76, average daily share volume of 281K, a public-listing history dating back to 2016, approximately 660 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how KNSL stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.95 places KNSL roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. KNSL pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on KNSL?
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 KNSL snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $310.58, ATM IV 33.70%, IV rank 25.08%, expected move 9.66%. The straddle on KNSL 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 KNSL specifically: KNSL IV at 33.70% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a KNSL straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 9.66% (roughly $30.01 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 KNSL expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on KNSL should anchor to the underlying notional of $310.58 per share and to the trader's directional view on KNSL stock.
KNSL straddle setup
The KNSL 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 KNSL near $310.58, the first option leg uses a $310.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed KNSL 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 KNSL shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $310.00 | $14.00 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $310.00 | $12.20 |
KNSL straddle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$2,620.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$2,522.43
- Breakeven(s)
- $283.80, $336.20
- 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.
KNSL straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on KNSL. 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% | +$28,379.00 |
| $68.68 | -77.9% | +$21,512.02 |
| $137.35 | -55.8% | +$14,645.03 |
| $206.02 | -33.7% | +$7,778.05 |
| $274.69 | -11.6% | +$911.06 |
| $343.36 | +10.6% | +$715.92 |
| $412.03 | +32.7% | +$7,582.91 |
| $480.70 | +54.8% | +$14,449.89 |
| $549.37 | +76.9% | +$21,316.88 |
| $618.04 | +99.0% | +$28,183.86 |
When traders use straddle on KNSL
Straddles on KNSL are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy KNSL straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
KNSL thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for KNSL extends from approximately $280.57 on the downside to $340.59 on the upside. A KNSL 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 KNSL IV rank near 25.08% 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 KNSL at 33.70%. As a Financial Services name, KNSL options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to KNSL-specific events.
KNSL 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. KNSL positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move KNSL alongside the broader basket even when KNSL-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current KNSL chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on KNSL?
- A straddle on KNSL is the straddle strategy applied to KNSL (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 KNSL stock trading near $310.58, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed KNSL chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are KNSL 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 KNSL straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 33.70%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$2,522.43 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a KNSL straddle?
- The breakeven for the KNSL straddle priced on this page is roughly $283.80 and $336.20 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 KNSL market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.66%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on KNSL?
- Straddles on KNSL are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy KNSL 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 KNSL implied volatility affect this straddle?
- KNSL ATM IV is at 33.70% with IV rank near 25.08%, 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.