PJT Straddle Strategy
PJT (PJT Partners Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Investment - Banking & Investment Services industry), listed on NYSE.
PJT Partners Inc., an investment bank, provides various strategic advisory, shareholder advisory, capital markets advisory, and restructuring and special situations services to corporations, financial sponsors, institutional investors, and governments worldwide. It offers advisory services to clients on various transactions, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), spin-offs, activism defense, contested M&A, joint ventures, minority investments, and divestitures. The company also provides advisory services for private and public company boards and management teams on strategies for building productive investor relationships with a focus on shareholder engagement; complex investor matters; and other critical strategic, governance, and shareholder matters. In addition, it offers advisory services related to debt and equity markets, including debt financings, acquisition financings, structured product offerings, public equity raises initial public offerings, private capital raises, general partner advisory, and other capital structure related matters. Further, the company provides geopolitical and policy advisory practice that assists corporate boards and management teams with navigating changing geopolitical relationships. Additionally, it offers advisory services in the areas of liability management, and restructurings and special situations comprising bespoke financing, tort liability resolutions, distressed M&A, and chapter 11 matters, as well as to corporate clients, financial sponsors, and creditors.
PJT (PJT Partners Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Investment - Banking & Investment Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.36B, a trailing P/E of 22.68, a beta of 0.83 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 127.73-195.62, average daily share volume of 418K, a public-listing history dating back to 2015, approximately 1K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PJT stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.83 places PJT roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. PJT pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on PJT?
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.
PJT snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $174.92, ATM IV 35.30%, IV rank 50.04%, expected move 10.12%. The straddle on PJT below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 35-day expiry.
Why this straddle structure on PJT specifically: PJT IV at 35.30% 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 10.12% (roughly $17.70 on the underlying). The 35-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated PJT expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PJT should anchor to the underlying notional of $174.92 per share and to the trader's directional view on PJT stock.
PJT straddle setup
The PJT straddle below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With PJT at $174.92 on that close, the first option leg uses a $175.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PJT chain at a 35-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 PJT shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $175.00 | $8.00 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $175.00 | $7.20 |
PJT straddle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$1,520.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$1,439.60
- Breakeven(s)
- $159.80, $190.20
- 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.
PJT straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on PJT. 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% | +$15,979.00 |
| $38.68 | -77.9% | +$12,111.53 |
| $77.36 | -55.8% | +$8,244.07 |
| $116.03 | -33.7% | +$4,376.60 |
| $154.71 | -11.6% | +$509.13 |
| $193.38 | +10.6% | +$318.34 |
| $232.06 | +32.7% | +$4,185.80 |
| $270.73 | +54.8% | +$8,053.27 |
| $309.41 | +76.9% | +$11,920.74 |
| $348.08 | +99.0% | +$15,788.21 |
When traders use straddle on PJT
Straddles on PJT are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy PJT straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
PJT thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PJT extends from approximately $157.22 on the downside to $192.62 on the upside. A PJT 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 PJT IV rank near 50.04% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the straddle thesis on PJT should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Financial Services name, PJT options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PJT-specific events.
PJT 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. PJT positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move PJT alongside the broader basket even when PJT-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current PJT chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on PJT?
- A straddle on PJT is the straddle strategy applied to PJT (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 PJT stock at $174.92 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PJT chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are PJT 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 PJT straddle priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 35.30%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$1,439.60 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a PJT straddle?
- The breakeven for the PJT straddle priced on this page is roughly $159.80 and $190.20 at expiration, derived from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain's premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The PJT market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 10.12%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on PJT?
- Straddles on PJT are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy PJT 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 PJT implied volatility affect this straddle?
- PJT ATM IV is at 35.30% with IV rank near 50.04%, 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.