UIS Strangle Strategy
UIS (Unisys Corporation), in the Technology sector, (Information Technology Services industry), listed on NYSE.
Unisys Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an information technology solutions company in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Digital Workplace Solutions (DWS); Cloud, Applications & Infrastructure Solutions (CA&I); and Enterprise Computing Solutions (ECS). The DWS segment provides next-generation service, intelligent workplace services, proactive experience management, field services, unified endpoint management (UEM), device subscription services (DSS), experience-as-a-service (XaaS), and collaboration tools. Its CA&I segment offers application development and managed services, hybrid multi-cloud transformation and managed services, security managed services, and digital transformation in the areas of cloud migration and management, applications and infrastructure transformation, and modernization solutions. The ECS segment provides license and support solutions, such as ClearPath Forward, a proprietary core software operating system, product, and platform for transaction processing, managed services, next-generation computing, and industry solutions. It also offers advice and essential capabilities to architect, develop, modernize, implement, and integrate the technologies and execute the workflows.
UIS (Unisys Corporation) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Information Technology Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $261.7M, a beta of 1.85 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 1.97-4.98, average daily share volume of 895K, a public-listing history dating back to 1972, approximately 15K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how UIS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.85 indicates UIS has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position.
What is a strangle on UIS?
A long strangle buys an OTM call and an OTM put at offset strikes, cheaper than a straddle but requiring a larger underlying move to profit since both wings start out-of-the-money.
Current UIS snapshot
As of June 30, 2026, spot at $3.69, ATM IV 120.20%, IV rank 16.30%, expected move 34.46%. The strangle on UIS 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 17-day expiry.
Why this strangle structure on UIS specifically: UIS IV at 120.20% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a UIS strangle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 34.46% (roughly $1.27 on the underlying). The 17-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated UIS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on UIS should anchor to the underlying notional of $3.69 per share and to the trader's directional view on UIS stock.
UIS strangle setup
The UIS strangle below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With UIS near $3.69, the first option leg uses a $3.87 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed UIS chain at a 17-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 UIS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $3.87 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $3.51 | N/A |
UIS strangle 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 put strike minus the combined debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached anywhere between the two OTM strikes). Two breakevens at call-strike plus debit and put-strike minus debit.
UIS strangle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the strangle on UIS. 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 strangle on UIS
Strangles on UIS are the cheaper cousin of the straddle - traders use them when they want a large directional move but are willing to give up the inner-strike sensitivity in exchange for a lower up-front debit on the UIS chain.
UIS thesis for this strangle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for UIS extends from approximately $2.42 on the downside to $4.96 on the upside. A UIS long strangle is the OTM cousin of the straddle: lower up-front cost but the underlying has to travel further past either OTM strike before the position turns profitable at expiration. Current UIS IV rank near 16.30% 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 UIS at 120.20%. As a Technology name, UIS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to UIS-specific events.
UIS strangle positions are structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium, OTM); 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. UIS positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move UIS alongside the broader basket even when UIS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current UIS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a strangle on UIS?
- A strangle on UIS is the strangle strategy applied to UIS (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium, OTM): A long strangle buys an OTM call and an OTM put at offset strikes, cheaper than a straddle but requiring a larger underlying move to profit since both wings start out-of-the-money. With UIS stock trading near $3.69, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed UIS chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are UIS strangle max profit and max loss calculated?
- Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the put strike minus the combined debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached anywhere between the two OTM strikes). Two breakevens at call-strike plus debit and put-strike minus debit. For the UIS strangle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 120.20%), 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 UIS strangle?
- The breakeven for the UIS strangle 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 UIS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 34.46%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a strangle on UIS?
- Strangles on UIS are the cheaper cousin of the straddle - traders use them when they want a large directional move but are willing to give up the inner-strike sensitivity in exchange for a lower up-front debit on the UIS chain.
- How does current UIS implied volatility affect this strangle?
- UIS ATM IV is at 120.20% with IV rank near 16.30%, 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.