LOPE Iron Condor Strategy
LOPE (Grand Canyon Education, Inc.), in the Consumer Defensive sector, (Education & Training Services industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Grand Canyon Education, Inc. provides education services to colleges and universities in the United States. The company's technology services include learning management system, internal administration, infrastructure, and support services; academic services comprises program and curriculum, faculty and related training and development, class scheduling, and skills and simulation lab sites; and counseling services and support include admission, financial aid, and field experience and other counseling services. It also offers marketing and communication services, such as lead acquisition, digital communications strategy, brand identity, market research, media planning and strategy, video, and business intelligence and data science; and back-office services comprising finance and accounting, human resources, audit, and procurement services. The company, through its subsidiary, Orbis Education Services, LLC, supports healthcare education programs for 27 universities. Grand Canyon Education, Inc. was founded in 1949 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona.
LOPE (Grand Canyon Education, Inc.) trades in the Consumer Defensive sector, specifically Education & Training Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.26B, a trailing P/E of 19.55, a beta of 0.62 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 149.37-223.04, average daily share volume of 297K, a public-listing history dating back to 2008, approximately 4K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how LOPE stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.62 indicates LOPE has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure.
What is a iron condor on LOPE?
An iron condor sells a call spread and a put spread at strikes outside spot, collecting net premium that is kept if the underlying stays inside the inner short strikes.
Current LOPE snapshot
As of May 14, 2026, spot at $161.01, ATM IV 27.40%, IV rank 18.67%, expected move 7.86%. The iron condor on LOPE 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 iron condor structure on LOPE specifically: LOPE IV at 27.40% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling LOPE iron condor collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 7.86% (roughly $12.65 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 LOPE expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on LOPE should anchor to the underlying notional of $161.01 per share and to the trader's directional view on LOPE stock.
LOPE iron condor setup
The LOPE iron condor below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With LOPE near $161.01, the first option leg uses a $170.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed LOPE 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 LOPE shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Call | $170.00 | $1.15 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $175.00 | $0.48 |
| Sell 1 | Put | $155.00 | $3.90 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $145.00 | $1.35 |
LOPE iron condor risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$322.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $322.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$677.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $151.78, $173.23
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.476
Max profit equals the net credit times 100 inside the inner strikes; max loss equals wing width minus credit times 100. Two breakevens at inner strikes plus and minus the credit.
LOPE iron condor payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the iron condor on LOPE. 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% | -$677.50 |
| $35.61 | -77.9% | -$677.50 |
| $71.21 | -55.8% | -$677.50 |
| $106.81 | -33.7% | -$677.50 |
| $142.41 | -11.6% | -$677.50 |
| $178.01 | +10.6% | -$177.50 |
| $213.60 | +32.7% | -$177.50 |
| $249.20 | +54.8% | -$177.50 |
| $284.80 | +76.9% | -$177.50 |
| $320.40 | +99.0% | -$177.50 |
When traders use iron condor on LOPE
Iron condors on LOPE are a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that profits if LOPE stock stays inside the inner short strikes; short strikes typically sit near 1 standard deviation from spot.
LOPE thesis for this iron condor
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for LOPE extends from approximately $148.36 on the downside to $173.66 on the upside. A LOPE iron condor is a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that pays off when LOPE stays inside the inner short strikes through expiration; the wing width should reflect the trader's tolerance for the maximum loss scenario where the underlying breaches an outer strike. Current LOPE IV rank near 18.67% 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 LOPE at 27.40%. As a Consumer Defensive name, LOPE options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to LOPE-specific events.
LOPE iron condor positions are structurally neutral / range-bound; 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. LOPE positions also carry Consumer Defensive sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move LOPE alongside the broader basket even when LOPE-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a iron condor on LOPE carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical LOPE earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current LOPE chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a iron condor on LOPE?
- A iron condor on LOPE is the iron condor strategy applied to LOPE (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral / range-bound: An iron condor sells a call spread and a put spread at strikes outside spot, collecting net premium that is kept if the underlying stays inside the inner short strikes. With LOPE stock trading near $161.01, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed LOPE chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are LOPE iron condor max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals the net credit times 100 inside the inner strikes; max loss equals wing width minus credit times 100. Two breakevens at inner strikes plus and minus the credit. For the LOPE iron condor priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 27.40%), the computed maximum profit is $322.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$677.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a LOPE iron condor?
- The breakeven for the LOPE iron condor priced on this page is roughly $151.78 and $173.23 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 LOPE market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 7.86%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a iron condor on LOPE?
- Iron condors on LOPE are a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that profits if LOPE stock stays inside the inner short strikes; short strikes typically sit near 1 standard deviation from spot.
- How does current LOPE implied volatility affect this iron condor?
- LOPE ATM IV is at 27.40% with IV rank near 18.67%, 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.