WHD Straddle Strategy
WHD (Cactus, Inc.), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Equipment & Services industry), listed on NYSE.
Cactus, Inc. designs, manufactures, sells, and rents a range of wellheads and pressure control equipment in the United States, Australia, China, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The company's principal products include Cactus SafeDrill wellhead systems, Cactus SafeLink monobore, SafeClamp, and SafeInject systems, as well as frac stacks, zipper manifolds, and production trees. It also provides field services, such as 24-hour service crews to assist with the installation, maintenance, repair, and safe handling of the wellhead and pressure control equipment; and repair and refurbishment services. The company sells or rents its products for onshore unconventional oil and gas wells for drilling, completion, and production phases of the wells. In addition, it operates 15 service centers in the United States, as well as 3 service centers in Eastern Australia. Cactus, Inc. was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
WHD (Cactus, Inc.) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Equipment & Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $3.89B, a trailing P/E of 52.88, a beta of 1.38 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 33.2-59.25, average daily share volume of 1.0M, a public-listing history dating back to 2018, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how WHD stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.38 indicates WHD has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position. The trailing P/E of 52.88 is on the rich side, which tends to correlate with higher earnings-window IV expansion as the market debates whether forward growth supports the multiple. WHD pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on WHD?
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 WHD snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $56.53, ATM IV 35.70%, IV rank 4.02%, expected move 10.23%. The straddle on WHD 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 WHD specifically: WHD IV at 35.70% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a WHD straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 10.23% (roughly $5.79 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 WHD expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on WHD should anchor to the underlying notional of $56.53 per share and to the trader's directional view on WHD stock.
WHD straddle setup
The WHD 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 WHD near $56.53, the first option leg uses a $56.53 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed WHD 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 WHD shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $56.53 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $56.53 | N/A |
WHD 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.
WHD straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on WHD. 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 WHD
Straddles on WHD are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy WHD straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
WHD thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for WHD extends from approximately $50.74 on the downside to $62.32 on the upside. A WHD 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 WHD IV rank near 4.02% 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 WHD at 35.70%. As a Energy name, WHD options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to WHD-specific events.
WHD 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. WHD positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move WHD alongside the broader basket even when WHD-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current WHD chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on WHD?
- A straddle on WHD is the straddle strategy applied to WHD (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 WHD stock trading near $56.53, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed WHD chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are WHD 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 WHD straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 35.70%), 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 WHD straddle?
- The breakeven for the WHD 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 WHD market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 10.23%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on WHD?
- Straddles on WHD are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy WHD 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 WHD implied volatility affect this straddle?
- WHD ATM IV is at 35.70% with IV rank near 4.02%, 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.