VKTX Collar Strategy
VKTX (Viking Therapeutics, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Viking Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. The company's lead drug candidate is VK2809, an orally available tissue and receptor-subtype selective agonist of the thyroid hormone receptor beta (TRß), which is in Phase IIb clinical trials to treat patients with biopsy-confirmed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, as well as NAFLD. It also develops VK5211, an orally available non-steroidal selective androgen receptor modulator that is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of patients recovering from non-elective hip fracture surgery; VK0612, an orally available Phase IIb-ready drug candidate for type 2 diabetes; and VK0214, an orally available tissue and receptor-subtype selective agonist of the TRß for X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
VKTX (Viking Therapeutics, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $3.68B, a beta of 0.71 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 22.959-43.15, average daily share volume of 2.4M, a public-listing history dating back to 2015, approximately 45 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how VKTX stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.71 places VKTX roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a collar on VKTX?
A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot.
Current VKTX snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $30.42, ATM IV 57.57%, IV rank 8.60%, expected move 16.50%. The collar on VKTX 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 28-day expiry.
Why this collar structure on VKTX specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; compressed VKTX IV at 57.57% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 16.50% (roughly $5.02 on the underlying). The 28-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated VKTX expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on VKTX should anchor to the underlying notional of $30.42 per share and to the trader's directional view on VKTX stock.
VKTX collar setup
The VKTX collar below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With VKTX near $30.42, the first option leg uses a $32.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed VKTX chain at a 28-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 VKTX shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $30.42 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $32.00 | $1.31 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $29.00 | $1.19 |
VKTX collar risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$3,030.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $170.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$130.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $30.30
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.308
Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium.
VKTX collar payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar on VKTX. 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.
| Underlying Price | % From Spot | P&L at Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| $0.01 | -100.0% | -$130.00 |
| $6.73 | -77.9% | -$130.00 |
| $13.46 | -55.8% | -$130.00 |
| $20.18 | -33.6% | -$130.00 |
| $26.91 | -11.5% | -$130.00 |
| $33.63 | +10.6% | +$170.00 |
| $40.36 | +32.7% | +$170.00 |
| $47.08 | +54.8% | +$170.00 |
| $53.81 | +76.9% | +$170.00 |
| $60.53 | +99.0% | +$170.00 |
When traders use collar on VKTX
Collars on VKTX hedge an existing long VKTX stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
VKTX thesis for this collar
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for VKTX extends from approximately $25.40 on the downside to $35.44 on the upside. A VKTX collar hedges an existing long VKTX position with a protective put while financing the put cost via a short call; when the premiums roughly offset, the collar acts as a near-zero-cost insurance band around the current spot. Current VKTX IV rank near 8.60% 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 VKTX at 57.57%. As a Healthcare name, VKTX options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to VKTX-specific events.
VKTX collar positions are structurally neutral (protective); 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. VKTX positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move VKTX alongside the broader basket even when VKTX-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current VKTX chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a collar on VKTX?
- A collar on VKTX is the collar strategy applied to VKTX (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral (protective): A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot. With VKTX stock trading near $30.42, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed VKTX chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are VKTX collar max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium. For the VKTX collar priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 57.57%), the computed maximum profit is $170.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$130.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a VKTX collar?
- The breakeven for the VKTX collar priced on this page is roughly $30.30 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 VKTX market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 16.50%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a collar on VKTX?
- Collars on VKTX hedge an existing long VKTX stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
- How does current VKTX implied volatility affect this collar?
- VKTX ATM IV is at 57.57% with IV rank near 8.60%, 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.