RFL Straddle Strategy
RFL (Rafael Holdings, Inc.), in the Real Estate sector, (Real Estate - Services industry), listed on NYSE.
Rafael Holdings, Inc. holds interests in clinical and early stage pharmaceutical companies, and commercial real estate assets in the United States and Israel. The company operates in two segments, Pharmaceuticals and Real Estate. It engages in the leasing of a commercial office building, as well as an associated 800-car public garage; and development and commercialization of therapies that exploit the metabolic differences between normal cells and cancer cells. The company's lead drug candidate is CPI-613 (devimistat), which is being evaluated in various clinical studies, including two Phase III registrational clinical trials for the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer and r/r acute myeloid leukemia. Rafael Holdings, Inc. is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.
RFL (Rafael Holdings, Inc.) trades in the Real Estate sector, specifically Real Estate - Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $49.6M, a beta of 0.50 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 1.12-3.19, average daily share volume of 81K, a public-listing history dating back to 2018, approximately 28 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how RFL stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.50 indicates RFL has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure.
What is a straddle on RFL?
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 RFL snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $1.31, ATM IV 23.00%, IV rank 0.56%, expected move 6.59%. The straddle on RFL 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 RFL specifically: RFL IV at 23.00% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a RFL straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 6.59% (roughly $0.09 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 RFL expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on RFL should anchor to the underlying notional of $1.31 per share and to the trader's directional view on RFL stock.
RFL straddle setup
The RFL 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 RFL near $1.31, the first option leg uses a $1.31 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed RFL 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 RFL shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $1.31 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $1.31 | N/A |
RFL 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.
RFL straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on RFL. 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 RFL
Straddles on RFL are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy RFL straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
RFL thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for RFL extends from approximately $1.22 on the downside to $1.40 on the upside. A RFL 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 RFL IV rank near 0.56% 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 RFL at 23.00%. As a Real Estate name, RFL options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to RFL-specific events.
RFL 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. RFL positions also carry Real Estate sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move RFL alongside the broader basket even when RFL-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current RFL chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on RFL?
- A straddle on RFL is the straddle strategy applied to RFL (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 RFL stock trading near $1.31, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed RFL chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are RFL 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 RFL straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 23.00%), 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 RFL straddle?
- The breakeven for the RFL 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 RFL market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 6.59%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on RFL?
- Straddles on RFL are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy RFL 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 RFL implied volatility affect this straddle?
- RFL ATM IV is at 23.00% with IV rank near 0.56%, 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.