WHG Straddle Strategy
WHG (Westwood Holdings Group, Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Financial - Capital Markets industry), listed on NYSE.
Westwood Holdings Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, manages investment assets and provides services for its clients. The company operates in two segments, Advisory and Trust. The Advisory segment provides investment advisory services to corporate retirement plans, public retirement plans, endowments, foundations, individuals, and the Westwood Funds; and investment sub-advisory services to mutual funds, pooled investment vehicles, and its Trust segment. The Trust segment offers trust and custodial services; and participates in common trust funds that it sponsors to institutions and high net worth individuals. Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Dallas, Texas.
WHG (Westwood Holdings Group, Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Financial - Capital Markets, with a market capitalization of approximately $153.2M, a trailing P/E of 18.64, a beta of 0.62 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 14.51-18.99, average daily share volume of 12K, a public-listing history dating back to 2002, approximately 151 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how WHG stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.62 indicates WHG has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. WHG pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on WHG?
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 WHG snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $16.09, ATM IV 74.10%, IV rank 20.31%, expected move 21.24%. The straddle on WHG 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 WHG specifically: WHG IV at 74.10% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a WHG straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 21.24% (roughly $3.42 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 WHG expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on WHG should anchor to the underlying notional of $16.09 per share and to the trader's directional view on WHG stock.
WHG straddle setup
The WHG 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 WHG near $16.09, the first option leg uses a $16.09 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed WHG 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 WHG shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $16.09 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $16.09 | N/A |
WHG 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.
WHG straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on WHG. 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 WHG
Straddles on WHG are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy WHG straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
WHG thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for WHG extends from approximately $12.67 on the downside to $19.51 on the upside. A WHG 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 WHG IV rank near 20.31% 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 WHG at 74.10%. As a Financial Services name, WHG options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to WHG-specific events.
WHG 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. WHG positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move WHG alongside the broader basket even when WHG-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current WHG chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on WHG?
- A straddle on WHG is the straddle strategy applied to WHG (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 WHG stock trading near $16.09, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed WHG chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are WHG 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 WHG straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 74.10%), 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 WHG straddle?
- The breakeven for the WHG 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 WHG market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 21.24%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on WHG?
- Straddles on WHG are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy WHG 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 WHG implied volatility affect this straddle?
- WHG ATM IV is at 74.10% with IV rank near 20.31%, 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.