TDAY Straddle Strategy
TDAY (USA TODAY Co. Inc.), in the Communication Services sector, (Publishing industry), listed on NYSE.
USA TODAY Co., Inc. operates as a media and digital marketing solutions company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Domestic Gannett Media, Newsquest, and Digital Marketing Solutions. The company’s print offerings include home delivery on a subscription basis; single copy; and non-daily publications, such as shoppers and niche publications. It also provides digital-only subscription, including local media brands, USA TODAY NETWORK community events platform, magazines, sports, and games; and E-newspapers; and digital advertising and marketing services. In addition, the company offers digital news and media brands; daily and weekly newspapers; digital advertising and marketing products and solutions under the LocaliQ brand; cloud-based platform that offers a suite of products and solutions for marketing automation, AI-driven advertising optimization, and customizable reporting; commercial printing and distribution arrangements services; and prints commercial materials, including flyers, business cards, and invitations. USA TODAY Co., Inc. was formerly known as Gannett Co., Inc. and changed its name to USA TODAY Co., Inc. in October 2025.
TDAY (USA TODAY Co. Inc.) trades in the Communication Services sector, specifically Publishing, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.01B, a beta of 1.40 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 3.42-9.21, average daily share volume of 1.7M, a public-listing history dating back to 2014, approximately 10K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how TDAY stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.40 indicates TDAY has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position. TDAY pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on TDAY?
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.
TDAY snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $7.06, ATM IV 25.80%, IV rank 2.94%, expected move 7.40%. The straddle on TDAY below is built from the 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 TDAY specifically: TDAY IV at 25.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a TDAY straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 7.40% (roughly $0.52 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 TDAY expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on TDAY should anchor to the underlying notional of $7.06 per share and to the trader's directional view on TDAY stock.
TDAY straddle setup
The TDAY 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 TDAY at $7.06 on that close, the first option leg uses a $7.06 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed TDAY 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 TDAY shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $7.06 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $7.06 | N/A |
TDAY 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.
TDAY straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on TDAY. 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 TDAY
Straddles on TDAY are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy TDAY straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
TDAY thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for TDAY extends from approximately $6.54 on the downside to $7.58 on the upside. A TDAY 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 TDAY IV rank near 2.94% 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 TDAY at 25.80%. As a Communication Services name, TDAY options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to TDAY-specific events.
TDAY 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. TDAY positions also carry Communication Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move TDAY alongside the broader basket even when TDAY-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current TDAY chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on TDAY?
- A straddle on TDAY is the straddle strategy applied to TDAY (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 TDAY stock at $7.06 on the most recent close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed TDAY chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are TDAY 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 TDAY 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 TDAY straddle?
- The breakeven for the TDAY straddle priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve at expiration, derived from the 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 TDAY market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot 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 TDAY?
- Straddles on TDAY are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy TDAY 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 TDAY implied volatility affect this straddle?
- TDAY ATM IV is at 25.80% with IV rank near 2.94%, 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.