MAX Collar Strategy
MAX (MediaAlpha, Inc.), in the Communication Services sector, (Internet Content & Information industry), listed on NYSE.
MediaAlpha, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates an insurance customer acquisition platform in the United States. It optimizes customer acquisition in various verticals of property and casualty insurance, health insurance, and life insurance. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. MediaAlpha, Inc. is a subsidiary of White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd.
MAX (MediaAlpha, Inc.) trades in the Communication Services sector, specifically Internet Content & Information, with a market capitalization of approximately $457.9M, a trailing P/E of 12.12, a beta of 1.16 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 7.09-13.92, average daily share volume of 799K, a public-listing history dating back to 2020, approximately 144 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how MAX stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.16 places MAX roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a collar on MAX?
A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot.
Current MAX snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $8.04, ATM IV 44.90%, IV rank 9.88%, expected move 12.87%. The collar on MAX 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 collar structure on MAX specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; compressed MAX IV at 44.90% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 12.87% (roughly $1.03 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 MAX expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on MAX should anchor to the underlying notional of $8.04 per share and to the trader's directional view on MAX stock.
MAX collar setup
The MAX collar below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With MAX near $8.04, the first option leg uses a $8.44 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed MAX 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 MAX shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $8.04 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $8.44 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $7.64 | N/A |
MAX collar 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
Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium.
MAX collar payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar on MAX. 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 collar on MAX
Collars on MAX hedge an existing long MAX stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
MAX thesis for this collar
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for MAX extends from approximately $7.01 on the downside to $9.07 on the upside. A MAX collar hedges an existing long MAX position with a protective put while financing the put cost via a short call; when the premiums roughly offset, the collar acts as a near-zero-cost insurance band around the current spot. Current MAX IV rank near 9.88% 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 MAX at 44.90%. As a Communication Services name, MAX options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to MAX-specific events.
MAX collar positions are structurally neutral (protective); 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. MAX positions also carry Communication Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move MAX alongside the broader basket even when MAX-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current MAX chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a collar on MAX?
- A collar on MAX is the collar strategy applied to MAX (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral (protective): A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot. With MAX stock trading near $8.04, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed MAX chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are MAX collar max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium. For the MAX collar priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 44.90%), 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 MAX collar?
- The breakeven for the MAX collar 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 MAX market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 12.87%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a collar on MAX?
- Collars on MAX hedge an existing long MAX stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
- How does current MAX implied volatility affect this collar?
- MAX ATM IV is at 44.90% with IV rank near 9.88%, 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.