UNTY Straddle Strategy

UNTY (Unity Bancorp, Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Banks - Regional industry), listed on NASDAQ.

Unity Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Unity Bank that provides commercial and retail banking products and services to individuals, small and medium sized businesses, and professional communities. The company offers personal and business checking accounts, time deposits, money market accounts, and regular savings accounts, as well as noninterest and interest-bearing demand deposits. It also provides small business administration loans; commercial loans; and residential mortgage and consumer loans, including residential real estate, home equity lines and loans, and residential construction lines, as well as personal loans. the company offered its services through the Internet and nineteen branch offices located in Bergen, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset, Union, and Warren counties in New Jersey, as well as Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Unity Bancorp, Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Clinton, New Jersey.

UNTY (Unity Bancorp, Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Banks - Regional, with a market capitalization of approximately $522.7M, a trailing P/E of 8.59, a beta of 0.61 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 41.67-57.3, average daily share volume of 48K, a public-listing history dating back to 1997, approximately 227 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how UNTY stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.

A beta of 0.61 indicates UNTY has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. The trailing P/E of 8.59 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. UNTY pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.

What is a straddle on UNTY?

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 UNTY snapshot

As of May 15, 2026, spot at $52.67, ATM IV 134.20%, IV rank 100.00%, expected move 38.47%. The straddle on UNTY 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 UNTY specifically: UNTY IV at 134.20% is rich versus its 1-year range, which makes a premium-buying UNTY straddle relatively expensive in absolute-cost terms, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 38.47% (roughly $20.26 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 UNTY expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on UNTY should anchor to the underlying notional of $52.67 per share and to the trader's directional view on UNTY stock.

UNTY straddle setup

The UNTY 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 UNTY near $52.67, the first option leg uses a $52.67 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed UNTY 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 UNTY shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).

ActionTypeStrike / BasisPremium (est)
Buy 1Call$52.67N/A
Buy 1Put$52.67N/A

UNTY 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.

UNTY straddle payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on UNTY. 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 UNTY

Straddles on UNTY are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy UNTY straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.

UNTY thesis for this straddle

The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for UNTY extends from approximately $32.41 on the downside to $72.93 on the upside. A UNTY 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 UNTY IV rank near 100.00% sits in the upper third of its 1-year distribution, which historically reverts; this raises the bar for premium-buying structures and lowers it for premium-selling structures on UNTY at 134.20%. As a Financial Services name, UNTY options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to UNTY-specific events.

UNTY 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. UNTY positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move UNTY alongside the broader basket even when UNTY-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current UNTY chain quotes before placing a trade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a straddle on UNTY?
A straddle on UNTY is the straddle strategy applied to UNTY (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 UNTY stock trading near $52.67, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed UNTY chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
How are UNTY 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 UNTY straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 134.20%), 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 UNTY straddle?
The breakeven for the UNTY 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 UNTY market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 38.47%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
When should you consider a straddle on UNTY?
Straddles on UNTY are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy UNTY 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 UNTY implied volatility affect this straddle?
UNTY ATM IV is at 134.20% with IV rank near 100.00%, which is elevated relative to its 1-year range. Premium-selling structures (covered call, cash-secured put, iron condor) generally look more attractive when IV rank is high; premium-buying structures (long call, long put, debit spreads) are more expensive in that regime.

Related UNTY analysis