PSEC Straddle Strategy
PSEC (Prospect Capital Corporation), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Prospect Capital Corporation is a business development company. It specializes in middle market, mature, mezzanine finance, later stage, emerging growth, leveraged buyouts, refinancing, acquisitions, recapitalizations, turnaround, growth capital, development, capital expenditures and subordinated debt tranches of collateralized loan obligations, cash flow term loans, market place lending and bridge transactions. It also makes real estate investments particularly in multi-family residential real estate asset class. The fund makes secured debt, senior debt, senior and secured term loans, unitranche debt, first-lien and second lien, private debt, private equity, mezzanine debt, and equity investments in private and microcap public businesses. It focuses on both primary origination and secondary loans/portfolios and invests in situations like debt financings for private equity sponsors, acquisitions, dividend recapitalizations, growth financings, bridge loans, cash flow term loans, real estate financings/investments. It also focuses on investing in small-sized and medium-sized private companies rather than large public companies.
PSEC (Prospect Capital Corporation) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.13B, a beta of 0.81 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 2.25-3.72, average daily share volume of 4.9M, a public-listing history dating back to 2004, approximately 130 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PSEC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.81 places PSEC roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. PSEC pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on PSEC?
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 PSEC snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $2.19, ATM IV 25.80%, IV rank 13.79%, expected move 7.40%. The straddle on PSEC 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 straddle structure on PSEC specifically: PSEC IV at 25.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a PSEC straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 7.40% (roughly $0.16 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 PSEC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PSEC should anchor to the underlying notional of $2.19 per share and to the trader's directional view on PSEC stock.
PSEC straddle setup
The PSEC 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 PSEC near $2.19, the first option leg uses a $2.19 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PSEC 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 PSEC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $2.19 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $2.19 | N/A |
PSEC straddle 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
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.
PSEC straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on PSEC. 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 straddle on PSEC
Straddles on PSEC are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy PSEC straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
PSEC thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PSEC extends from approximately $2.03 on the downside to $2.35 on the upside. A PSEC 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 PSEC IV rank near 13.79% 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 PSEC at 25.80%. As a Financial Services name, PSEC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PSEC-specific events.
PSEC 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. PSEC positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move PSEC alongside the broader basket even when PSEC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current PSEC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on PSEC?
- A straddle on PSEC is the straddle strategy applied to PSEC (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 PSEC stock trading near $2.19, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PSEC chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are PSEC 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 PSEC straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 25.80%), 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 PSEC straddle?
- The breakeven for the PSEC straddle 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 PSEC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 7.40%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on PSEC?
- Straddles on PSEC are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy PSEC 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 PSEC implied volatility affect this straddle?
- PSEC ATM IV is at 25.80% with IV rank near 13.79%, 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.