LDOS Strangle Strategy
LDOS (Leidos Holdings, Inc.), in the Technology sector, (Information Technology Services industry), listed on NYSE.
Leidos Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides services and solutions in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health. The Defense Solutions segment offers national security solutions and systems for air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace for the U.S. Intelligence Community, the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, military services, and government agencies of U.S. allies abroad, as well as other federal and commercial customers in the national security industry. Its solutions include technology, large-scale systems, command and control platforms, data analytics, logistics, and cybersecurity solutions, as well as intelligence analysis and operations support services to critical missions. The Civil segment provides systems integration services to air navigation service providers, including the federal aviation administration, the En route automation modernization, advanced technology oceanic procedure, time based flow management, terminal flight data management, geo-7, and future flight services, as well as enterprise-information display systems; and security detection and automation services.
LDOS (Leidos Holdings, Inc.) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Information Technology Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $15.62B, a trailing P/E of 11.01, a beta of 0.57 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 121.53-205.77, average daily share volume of 1.2M, a public-listing history dating back to 2006, approximately 47K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how LDOS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.57 indicates LDOS has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. The trailing P/E of 11.01 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. LDOS pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a strangle on LDOS?
A long strangle buys an OTM call and an OTM put at offset strikes, cheaper than a straddle but requiring a larger underlying move to profit since both wings start out-of-the-money.
Current LDOS snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $123.05, ATM IV 32.00%, IV rank 41.77%, expected move 9.17%. The strangle on LDOS 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 strangle structure on LDOS specifically: LDOS IV at 32.00% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so strategy selection should anchor more to the directional thesis than to the IV regime, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 9.17% (roughly $11.29 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 LDOS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on LDOS should anchor to the underlying notional of $123.05 per share and to the trader's directional view on LDOS stock.
LDOS strangle setup
The LDOS strangle below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With LDOS near $123.05, the first option leg uses a $130.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed LDOS 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 LDOS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $130.00 | $2.30 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $115.00 | $1.88 |
LDOS strangle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$417.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$417.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $110.83, $134.18
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- Unbounded
Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the put strike minus the combined debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached anywhere between the two OTM strikes). Two breakevens at call-strike plus debit and put-strike minus debit.
LDOS strangle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the strangle on LDOS. 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% | +$11,081.50 |
| $27.22 | -77.9% | +$8,360.91 |
| $54.42 | -55.8% | +$5,640.31 |
| $81.63 | -33.7% | +$2,919.72 |
| $108.83 | -11.6% | +$199.13 |
| $136.04 | +10.6% | +$186.46 |
| $163.25 | +32.7% | +$2,907.06 |
| $190.45 | +54.8% | +$5,627.65 |
| $217.66 | +76.9% | +$8,348.24 |
| $244.86 | +99.0% | +$11,068.84 |
When traders use strangle on LDOS
Strangles on LDOS are the cheaper cousin of the straddle - traders use them when they want a large directional move but are willing to give up the inner-strike sensitivity in exchange for a lower up-front debit on the LDOS chain.
LDOS thesis for this strangle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for LDOS extends from approximately $111.76 on the downside to $134.34 on the upside. A LDOS long strangle is the OTM cousin of the straddle: lower up-front cost but the underlying has to travel further past either OTM strike before the position turns profitable at expiration. Current LDOS IV rank near 41.77% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the strangle thesis on LDOS should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Technology name, LDOS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to LDOS-specific events.
LDOS strangle positions are structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium, OTM); 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. LDOS positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move LDOS alongside the broader basket even when LDOS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current LDOS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a strangle on LDOS?
- A strangle on LDOS is the strangle strategy applied to LDOS (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium, OTM): A long strangle buys an OTM call and an OTM put at offset strikes, cheaper than a straddle but requiring a larger underlying move to profit since both wings start out-of-the-money. With LDOS stock trading near $123.05, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed LDOS chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are LDOS strangle max profit and max loss calculated?
- Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the put strike minus the combined debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached anywhere between the two OTM strikes). Two breakevens at call-strike plus debit and put-strike minus debit. For the LDOS strangle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 32.00%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$417.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a LDOS strangle?
- The breakeven for the LDOS strangle priced on this page is roughly $110.83 and $134.18 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 LDOS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.17%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a strangle on LDOS?
- Strangles on LDOS are the cheaper cousin of the straddle - traders use them when they want a large directional move but are willing to give up the inner-strike sensitivity in exchange for a lower up-front debit on the LDOS chain.
- How does current LDOS implied volatility affect this strangle?
- LDOS ATM IV is at 32.00% with IV rank near 41.77%, which is mid-range against its 1-year history. Strategy selection depends more on directional thesis and expected move than on a strong IV signal.