TU Straddle Strategy
TU (TELUS Corporation), in the Communication Services sector, (Telecommunications Services industry), listed on NYSE.
TELUS Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of telecommunications and information technology products and services in Canada. It operates through Technology Solutions and Digitally-Led Customer Experiences segments. The Technology Solutions segment offers a range of telecommunications products and services; network revenue; mobile technologies equipment sale; data revenues, such as internet protocol; television; hosting, managed information technology, and cloud-based services; software, data management, and data analytics-driven smart food-chain technologies; home and business security; healthcare software and technology solutions; and voice and other telecommunications services. The Digitally-Led Customer Experiences segment provides digital customer experience and digital-enablement transformation solutions, including artificial intelligence and content management solutions. It has 16.9 million subscriber connections, which include 9.3 million mobile phone subscribers; 2.1 million connected device subscribers; 2.3 million internet subscribers; 1.1 million residential voice subscribers; 1.3 million TV subscribers; and 804,000 security subscribers. The company was formerly known as TELUS Communications Inc. and changed its name to TELUS Corporation in February 2005.
TU (TELUS Corporation) trades in the Communication Services sector, specifically Telecommunications Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $19.31B, a trailing P/E of 28.51, a beta of 0.74 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 11.69-16.74, average daily share volume of 5.7M, a public-listing history dating back to 1996, approximately 107K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how TU stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.74 places TU roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. TU pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on TU?
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 TU snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $12.18, ATM IV 66.80%, IV rank 12.53%, expected move 6.61%. The straddle on TU 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 TU specifically: TU IV at 66.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a TU straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 6.61% (roughly $0.80 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 TU expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on TU should anchor to the underlying notional of $12.18 per share and to the trader's directional view on TU stock.
TU straddle setup
The TU 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 TU near $12.18, the first option leg uses a $12.18 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed TU 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 TU shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $12.18 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $12.18 | N/A |
TU 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.
TU straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on TU. 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 TU
Straddles on TU are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy TU straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
TU thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for TU extends from approximately $11.38 on the downside to $12.98 on the upside. A TU 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 TU IV rank near 12.53% 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 TU at 66.80%. As a Communication Services name, TU options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to TU-specific events.
TU 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. TU positions also carry Communication Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move TU alongside the broader basket even when TU-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current TU chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on TU?
- A straddle on TU is the straddle strategy applied to TU (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 TU stock trading near $12.18, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed TU chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are TU 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 TU straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 66.80%), 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 TU straddle?
- The breakeven for the TU 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 TU market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 6.61%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on TU?
- Straddles on TU are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy TU 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 TU implied volatility affect this straddle?
- TU ATM IV is at 66.80% with IV rank near 12.53%, 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.