STAA Straddle Strategy
STAA (STAAR Surgical Company), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Instruments & Supplies industry), listed on NASDAQ.
STAAR Surgical Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells implantable lenses for the eye, and companion delivery systems to deliver the lenses into the eye. The company provides Visian implantable Collamer lens product family (ICLs) to treat visual disorders, such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and presbyopia; and Hyperopic ICL, which treats far-sightedness. It also offers preloaded silicone cataract intraocular lenses and injector systems for use in cataract surgery. In addition, the company sells injector parts, and other related instruments and devices. It markets its products to health care providers, including ophthalmic surgeons, vision and surgical centers, hospitals, government facilities, and distributors, as well as products are primarily used by ophthalmologists. The company sells its products directly through its sales representatives in the United States, Japan, Germany, Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Singapore, as well as through own representatives and independent distributors in China, Korea, India, France, Benelux, Italy, and internationally.
STAA (STAAR Surgical Company) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Instruments & Supplies, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.46B, a beta of 1.20 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 15.59-30.81, average daily share volume of 1.3M, a public-listing history dating back to 1992, approximately 1K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how STAA stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.20 places STAA roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a straddle on STAA?
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 STAA snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $32.44, ATM IV 47.40%, IV rank 27.77%, expected move 13.59%. The straddle on STAA 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 STAA specifically: STAA IV at 47.40% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a STAA straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 13.59% (roughly $4.41 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 STAA expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on STAA should anchor to the underlying notional of $32.44 per share and to the trader's directional view on STAA stock.
STAA straddle setup
The STAA 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 STAA near $32.44, the first option leg uses a $32.44 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed STAA 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 STAA shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $32.44 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $32.44 | N/A |
STAA 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.
STAA straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on STAA. 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 STAA
Straddles on STAA are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy STAA straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
STAA thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for STAA extends from approximately $28.03 on the downside to $36.85 on the upside. A STAA 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 STAA IV rank near 27.77% 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 STAA at 47.40%. As a Healthcare name, STAA options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to STAA-specific events.
STAA 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. STAA positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move STAA alongside the broader basket even when STAA-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current STAA chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on STAA?
- A straddle on STAA is the straddle strategy applied to STAA (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 STAA stock trading near $32.44, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed STAA chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are STAA 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 STAA straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 47.40%), 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 STAA straddle?
- The breakeven for the STAA 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 STAA market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 13.59%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on STAA?
- Straddles on STAA are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy STAA 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 STAA implied volatility affect this straddle?
- STAA ATM IV is at 47.40% with IV rank near 27.77%, 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.