NOV Straddle Strategy
NOV (NOV Inc.), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Equipment & Services industry), listed on NYSE.
NOV Inc. designs, constructs, manufactures, and sells systems, components, and products for oil and gas drilling and production, and industrial and renewable energy sectors worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Wellbore Technologies, Completion & Production Solutions, and Rig Technologies. It also provides solids control and waste management equipment and services; portable power generation products; drill and wired pipes; drilling optimization and automation services; tubular inspection, repair, and coating services; instrumentation; measuring and monitoring services; downhole and fishing tools; steerable technologies; and drill bits. The company offers equipment and technologies for hydraulic fracture stimulation, including downhole multistage fracturing tools, pressure pumping trucks, blenders, sanders, hydration and injection units, flowline, and manifolds; coiled tubing units, and wireline units and tools; connections and liner hangers; onshore production consists of composite pipe, surface transfer and progressive cavity pumps, and artificial lift systems; and offshore production, such as floating production systems and subsea production technologies, as well as manufactures industrial pumps and mixers. It also provides substructures, derricks, and masts; cranes; jacking systems; pipe lifting, racking, rotating, and assembly systems; mud pumps; pressure control equipment; drives and generators; rig instrumentation and control systems; mooring, anchor, and deck handling machinery; equipment components for offshore wind construction vessels; and pipelay and construction systems. NOV Inc. offers spare parts, repair, and rentals as well as comprehensive remote equipment monitoring, technical support, field service, and customer training.
NOV (NOV Inc.) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Equipment & Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $7.35B, a trailing P/E of 80.40, a beta of 0.92 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 11.65-20.93, average daily share volume of 5.0M, a public-listing history dating back to 1996, approximately 34K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how NOV stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.92 places NOV roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 80.40 is on the rich side, which tends to correlate with higher earnings-window IV expansion as the market debates whether forward growth supports the multiple. NOV pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on NOV?
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 NOV snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $20.34, ATM IV 36.90%, IV rank 31.62%, expected move 10.58%. The straddle on NOV 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 98-day expiry.
Why this straddle structure on NOV specifically: NOV IV at 36.90% 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 10.58% (roughly $2.15 on the underlying). The 98-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated NOV expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on NOV should anchor to the underlying notional of $20.34 per share and to the trader's directional view on NOV stock.
NOV straddle setup
The NOV 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 NOV near $20.34, the first option leg uses a $20.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed NOV chain at a 98-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 NOV shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $20.00 | $2.03 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $20.00 | $1.33 |
NOV straddle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$335.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$331.16
- Breakeven(s)
- $16.65, $23.35
- 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.
NOV straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on NOV. 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% | +$1,664.00 |
| $4.51 | -77.8% | +$1,214.38 |
| $9.00 | -55.7% | +$764.76 |
| $13.50 | -33.6% | +$315.15 |
| $17.99 | -11.5% | -$134.47 |
| $22.49 | +10.6% | -$85.91 |
| $26.99 | +32.7% | +$363.71 |
| $31.48 | +54.8% | +$813.33 |
| $35.98 | +76.9% | +$1,262.94 |
| $40.48 | +99.0% | +$1,712.56 |
When traders use straddle on NOV
Straddles on NOV are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy NOV straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
NOV thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for NOV extends from approximately $18.19 on the downside to $22.49 on the upside. A NOV 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 NOV IV rank near 31.62% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the straddle thesis on NOV should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Energy name, NOV options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to NOV-specific events.
NOV 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. NOV positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move NOV alongside the broader basket even when NOV-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current NOV chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on NOV?
- A straddle on NOV is the straddle strategy applied to NOV (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 NOV stock trading near $20.34, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed NOV chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are NOV 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 NOV straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 36.90%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$331.16 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a NOV straddle?
- The breakeven for the NOV straddle priced on this page is roughly $16.65 and $23.35 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 NOV market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 10.58%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on NOV?
- Straddles on NOV are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy NOV 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 NOV implied volatility affect this straddle?
- NOV ATM IV is at 36.90% with IV rank near 31.62%, 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.