NGL Strangle Strategy

NGL (NGL Energy Partners LP), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Midstream industry), listed on NYSE.

NGL Energy Partners LP engages in the transportation, storage, blending, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas liquids, refined products / renewables, and water solutions. The company operates in three segments: Water Solutions, Crude Oil Logistics, and Liquids Logistics. The Water Solutions segment transports, treats, recycles, and disposes produced and flowback water generated from oil and natural gas production; aggregates and sells recovered crude oil; disposes solids, such as tank bottoms, and drilling fluid and muds, as well as performs truck and frac tank washouts; and sells produced water for reuse and recycle, and brackish non-potable water. The Crude Oil Logistics segment purchases crude oil from producers and marketers, and transports it to refineries for resale at pipeline injection stations, storage terminals, barge loading facilities, rail facilities, refineries, and other trade hubs; and provides storage, terminaling, and transportation services through pipelines. The Liquids Logistics segment supplies natural gas liquids, refined petroleum products, and biodiesel to commercial, retail, and industrial customers in the United States and Canada through its 24 terminals, third-party storage and terminal facilities, and nine common carrier pipelines, as well as through fleet of leased railcars. This segment is also involved in the marine export of butane through its facility located in Chesapeake, Virginia.

NGL (NGL Energy Partners LP) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Midstream, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.08B, a trailing P/E of 13.22, a beta of 0.58 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 3.1-17.12, average daily share volume of 254K, a public-listing history dating back to 2011, approximately 607 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how NGL stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.

A beta of 0.58 indicates NGL 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 strangle on NGL?

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 NGL snapshot

As of May 15, 2026, spot at $17.57, ATM IV 66.90%, IV rank 56.76%, expected move 19.18%. The strangle on NGL 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 63-day expiry.

Why this strangle structure on NGL specifically: NGL IV at 66.90% 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 19.18% (roughly $3.37 on the underlying). The 63-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated NGL expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on NGL should anchor to the underlying notional of $17.57 per share and to the trader's directional view on NGL stock.

NGL strangle setup

The NGL 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 NGL near $17.57, the first option leg uses a $18.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed NGL chain at a 63-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 NGL shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).

ActionTypeStrike / BasisPremium (est)
Buy 1Call$18.00$1.75
Buy 1Put$17.00$1.50

NGL strangle risk and reward

Net Premium / Debit
-$325.00
Max Profit (per contract)
Unbounded
Max Loss (per contract)
-$325.00
Breakeven(s)
$13.75, $21.25
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.

NGL strangle payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the strangle on NGL. 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 SpotP&L at Expiration
$0.01-99.9%+$1,374.00
$3.89-77.8%+$985.63
$7.78-55.7%+$597.26
$11.66-33.6%+$208.88
$15.54-11.5%-$179.49
$19.43+10.6%-$182.14
$23.31+32.7%+$206.23
$27.20+54.8%+$594.60
$31.08+76.9%+$982.97
$34.96+99.0%+$1,371.35

When traders use strangle on NGL

Strangles on NGL 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 NGL chain.

NGL thesis for this strangle

The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for NGL extends from approximately $14.20 on the downside to $20.94 on the upside. A NGL 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 NGL IV rank near 56.76% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the strangle thesis on NGL should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Energy name, NGL options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to NGL-specific events.

NGL 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. NGL positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move NGL alongside the broader basket even when NGL-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current NGL chain quotes before placing a trade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a strangle on NGL?
A strangle on NGL is the strangle strategy applied to NGL (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 NGL stock trading near $17.57, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed NGL chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
How are NGL 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 NGL strangle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 66.90%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$325.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
What is the breakeven for a NGL strangle?
The breakeven for the NGL strangle priced on this page is roughly $13.75 and $21.25 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 NGL market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 19.18%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
When should you consider a strangle on NGL?
Strangles on NGL 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 NGL chain.
How does current NGL implied volatility affect this strangle?
NGL ATM IV is at 66.90% with IV rank near 56.76%, 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.

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