PTEN Iron Condor Strategy
PTEN (Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Drilling industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides onshore contract drilling services to oil and natural gas operators in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Contract Drilling Services, Pressure Pumping Services, and Directional Drilling Services. The Contract Drilling Services segment markets its contract drilling services primarily in west Texas, Appalachia, Rockies, Oklahoma, South Texas, East Texas, and Colombia. As of December 31, 2021, this segment had a drilling fleet of 192 marketable land-based drilling rigs. The Pressure Pumping Services segment offers pressure pumping services that consist of well stimulation for the completion of new wells and remedial work on existing wells, as well as hydraulic fracturing, cementing, and acid pumping services in Texas and the Appalachian region. The Directional Drilling Services segment provides a suite of directional drilling services, including directional drilling and measurement-while-drilling services; supply and rental of downhole performance motors; and software and services that enhances the accuracy of directional and horizontal wellbores, wellbore quality, and on-bottom rate of penetration.
PTEN (Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Drilling, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.56B, a beta of 0.65 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 5.1-12.62, average daily share volume of 10.6M, a public-listing history dating back to 1993, approximately 9K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PTEN stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.65 indicates PTEN has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. PTEN pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a iron condor on PTEN?
An iron condor sells a call spread and a put spread at strikes outside spot, collecting net premium that is kept if the underlying stays inside the inner short strikes.
Current PTEN snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $12.36, ATM IV 53.30%, IV rank 28.16%, expected move 15.28%. The iron condor on PTEN 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 iron condor structure on PTEN specifically: PTEN IV at 53.30% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling PTEN iron condor collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 15.28% (roughly $1.89 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 PTEN expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PTEN should anchor to the underlying notional of $12.36 per share and to the trader's directional view on PTEN stock.
PTEN iron condor setup
The PTEN iron condor below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With PTEN near $12.36, the first option leg uses a $12.98 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PTEN 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 PTEN shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Call | $12.98 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $13.60 | N/A |
| Sell 1 | Put | $11.74 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $11.12 | N/A |
PTEN iron condor 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
Max profit equals the net credit times 100 inside the inner strikes; max loss equals wing width minus credit times 100. Two breakevens at inner strikes plus and minus the credit.
PTEN iron condor payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the iron condor on PTEN. 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 iron condor on PTEN
Iron condors on PTEN are a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that profits if PTEN stock stays inside the inner short strikes; short strikes typically sit near 1 standard deviation from spot.
PTEN thesis for this iron condor
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PTEN extends from approximately $10.47 on the downside to $14.25 on the upside. A PTEN iron condor is a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that pays off when PTEN stays inside the inner short strikes through expiration; the wing width should reflect the trader's tolerance for the maximum loss scenario where the underlying breaches an outer strike. Current PTEN IV rank near 28.16% 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 PTEN at 53.30%. As a Energy name, PTEN options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PTEN-specific events.
PTEN iron condor positions are structurally neutral / range-bound; 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. PTEN positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move PTEN alongside the broader basket even when PTEN-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a iron condor on PTEN carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical PTEN earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current PTEN chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a iron condor on PTEN?
- A iron condor on PTEN is the iron condor strategy applied to PTEN (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral / range-bound: An iron condor sells a call spread and a put spread at strikes outside spot, collecting net premium that is kept if the underlying stays inside the inner short strikes. With PTEN stock trading near $12.36, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PTEN chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are PTEN iron condor max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals the net credit times 100 inside the inner strikes; max loss equals wing width minus credit times 100. Two breakevens at inner strikes plus and minus the credit. For the PTEN iron condor priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 53.30%), 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 PTEN iron condor?
- The breakeven for the PTEN iron condor 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 PTEN market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 15.28%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a iron condor on PTEN?
- Iron condors on PTEN are a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that profits if PTEN stock stays inside the inner short strikes; short strikes typically sit near 1 standard deviation from spot.
- How does current PTEN implied volatility affect this iron condor?
- PTEN ATM IV is at 53.30% with IV rank near 28.16%, 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.