UBSI Straddle Strategy
UBSI (United Bankshares, Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Banks - Regional industry), listed on NASDAQ.
United Bankshares, Inc., a financial holding company, primarily provides commercial and retail banking products and services in the United States. It operates through two segments, Community Banking and Mortgage Banking. The company accepts checking, savings, and time and money market accounts; individual retirement accounts; and demand deposits, statement and special savings, NOW accounts, and interest-bearing checking accounts. Its loan products include commercial loans and leases; construction and real estate loans; personal, student, credit card, commercial, and floor plan loans; and home equity loans. In addition, the company provides credit cards; safe deposit boxes, wire transfers, and other banking products and services; investment and security services; services to correspondent banks, including buying and selling federal funds; automated teller machine services; and internet and telephone banking services. Further, it offers community banking services, such as asset management, real property title insurance, financial planning, mortgage banking, and brokerage services.
UBSI (United Bankshares, Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Banks - Regional, with a market capitalization of approximately $5.81B, a trailing P/E of 11.66, a beta of 0.74 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 34.1-45.93, average daily share volume of 935K, a public-listing history dating back to 1987, approximately 3K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how UBSI stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.74 places UBSI roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 11.66 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. UBSI pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on UBSI?
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 UBSI snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $41.73, ATM IV 23.30%, IV rank 11.69%, expected move 6.68%. The straddle on UBSI 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 UBSI specifically: UBSI IV at 23.30% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a UBSI straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 6.68% (roughly $2.79 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 UBSI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on UBSI should anchor to the underlying notional of $41.73 per share and to the trader's directional view on UBSI stock.
UBSI straddle setup
The UBSI 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 UBSI near $41.73, the first option leg uses a $41.73 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed UBSI 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 UBSI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $41.73 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $41.73 | N/A |
UBSI 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.
UBSI straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on UBSI. 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 UBSI
Straddles on UBSI are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy UBSI straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
UBSI thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for UBSI extends from approximately $38.94 on the downside to $44.52 on the upside. A UBSI 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 UBSI IV rank near 11.69% 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 UBSI at 23.30%. As a Financial Services name, UBSI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to UBSI-specific events.
UBSI 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. UBSI positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move UBSI alongside the broader basket even when UBSI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current UBSI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on UBSI?
- A straddle on UBSI is the straddle strategy applied to UBSI (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 UBSI stock trading near $41.73, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed UBSI chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are UBSI 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 UBSI straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 23.30%), 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 UBSI straddle?
- The breakeven for the UBSI 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 UBSI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 6.68%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on UBSI?
- Straddles on UBSI are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy UBSI 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 UBSI implied volatility affect this straddle?
- UBSI ATM IV is at 23.30% with IV rank near 11.69%, 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.