PBF Bull Call Spread Strategy
PBF (PBF Energy Inc.), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing industry), listed on NYSE.
PBF Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in refining and supplying petroleum products. The company operates in two segments, Refining and Logistics. It produces gasoline, ultra-low-sulfur diesel, heating oil, diesel fuel, jet fuel, lubricants, petrochemicals, and asphalt, as well as unbranded transportation fuels, petrochemical feedstocks, blending components, and other petroleum products. The company sells its products in Northeast, Midwest, Gulf Coast, and West Coast of the United States, as well as in other regions of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It also offers various rail, truck, and marine terminaling services, as well as pipeline transportation and storage services. As of December 31, 2021, the company owned and operated six oil refineries and related assets.
PBF (PBF Energy Inc.) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.84B, a trailing P/E of 10.86, a beta of 0.14 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 17.53-52.18, average daily share volume of 3.8M, a public-listing history dating back to 2012, approximately 4K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PBF stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.14 indicates PBF 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 10.86 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. PBF pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a bull call spread on PBF?
A bull call spread buys an at-the-money call and sells an out-of-the-money call at a higher strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width.
Current PBF snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $42.27, ATM IV 67.60%, IV rank 30.96%, expected move 19.38%. The bull call spread on PBF 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 bull call spread structure on PBF specifically: PBF IV at 67.60% 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 19.38% (roughly $8.19 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 PBF expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PBF should anchor to the underlying notional of $42.27 per share and to the trader's directional view on PBF stock.
PBF bull call spread setup
The PBF bull call spread below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With PBF near $42.27, the first option leg uses a $42.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PBF 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 PBF shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $42.00 | $3.65 |
| Sell 1 | Call | $44.00 | $2.88 |
PBF bull call spread risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$77.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $122.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$77.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $42.78
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.581
Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-call strike plus net debit.
PBF bull call spread payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bull call spread on PBF. 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% | -$77.50 |
| $9.36 | -77.9% | -$77.50 |
| $18.70 | -55.8% | -$77.50 |
| $28.05 | -33.7% | -$77.50 |
| $37.39 | -11.5% | -$77.50 |
| $46.74 | +10.6% | +$122.50 |
| $56.08 | +32.7% | +$122.50 |
| $65.43 | +54.8% | +$122.50 |
| $74.77 | +76.9% | +$122.50 |
| $84.12 | +99.0% | +$122.50 |
When traders use bull call spread on PBF
Bull call spreads on PBF reduce the cost of a bullish PBF stock position by selling a higher-strike call; suited to moderate-move theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
PBF thesis for this bull call spread
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PBF extends from approximately $34.08 on the downside to $50.46 on the upside. A PBF bull call spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bullish position; relative to an outright long call on PBF, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current PBF IV rank near 30.96% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the bull call spread thesis on PBF should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Energy name, PBF options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PBF-specific events.
PBF bull call spread positions are structurally moderately bullish; 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. PBF positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move PBF alongside the broader basket even when PBF-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bull call spread on PBF are particularly exposed to IV-crush risk through scheduled events (earnings, FDA decisions, central-bank meetings) where IV typically contracts post-event regardless of the directional outcome. Always rebuild the position from current PBF chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a bull call spread on PBF?
- A bull call spread on PBF is the bull call spread strategy applied to PBF (stock). The strategy is structurally moderately bullish: A bull call spread buys an at-the-money call and sells an out-of-the-money call at a higher strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width. With PBF stock trading near $42.27, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PBF chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are PBF bull call spread max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-call strike plus net debit. For the PBF bull call spread priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 67.60%), the computed maximum profit is $122.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$77.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a PBF bull call spread?
- The breakeven for the PBF bull call spread priced on this page is roughly $42.78 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 PBF market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 19.38%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a bull call spread on PBF?
- Bull call spreads on PBF reduce the cost of a bullish PBF stock position by selling a higher-strike call; suited to moderate-move theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
- How does current PBF implied volatility affect this bull call spread?
- PBF ATM IV is at 67.60% with IV rank near 30.96%, 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.