YORW Straddle Strategy
YORW (The York Water Company), in the Utilities sector, (Regulated Water industry), listed on NASDAQ.
The York Water Company specializes in the acquisition, treatment, and delivery of potable water. Beyond its core water supply operations, the firm manages a comprehensive wastewater network, comprising three distinct collection systems and five full-service collection and purification plants. Its primary water sources include Lake Williams and Lake Redman, two reservoirs with a combined capacity of approximately 2.2 billion gallons. This supply is augmented by a 15-mile conduit channeling water from the Susquehanna River to Lake Redman, alongside nine active groundwater wells providing water to customers in Adams County. The company serves a diverse industrial customer base, spanning sectors such as home furnishings, electronics manufacturing, food processing, paper production, defense materials, textile fabrication, climate control systems, cleaning product formulation, sports equipment, and motorcycle assembly. These services reach 51 communities across three counties in the south-central portion of Pennsylvania.
YORW (The York Water Company) trades in the Utilities sector, specifically Regulated Water, with a market capitalization of approximately $498.6M, a trailing P/E of 20.88, a beta of 0.62 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 28.26-34.3, average daily share volume of 151K, a public-listing history dating back to 1999, approximately 127 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how YORW stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.62 indicates YORW has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. YORW pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a straddle on YORW?
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 YORW snapshot
As of June 30, 2026, spot at $30.77, ATM IV 105.90%, IV rank 22.59%, expected move 30.36%. The straddle on YORW 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 straddle structure on YORW specifically: YORW IV at 105.90% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a YORW straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 30.36% (roughly $9.34 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 YORW expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on YORW should anchor to the underlying notional of $30.77 per share and to the trader's directional view on YORW stock.
YORW straddle setup
The YORW 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 YORW near $30.77, the first option leg uses a $30.77 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed YORW 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 YORW shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $30.77 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $30.77 | N/A |
YORW 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.
YORW straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on YORW. 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 YORW
Straddles on YORW are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy YORW straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
YORW thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for YORW extends from approximately $21.43 on the downside to $40.11 on the upside. A YORW 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 YORW IV rank near 22.59% 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 YORW at 105.90%. As a Utilities name, YORW options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to YORW-specific events.
YORW 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. YORW positions also carry Utilities sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move YORW alongside the broader basket even when YORW-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current YORW chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on YORW?
- A straddle on YORW is the straddle strategy applied to YORW (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 YORW stock trading near $30.77, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed YORW chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are YORW 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 YORW straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 105.90%), 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 YORW straddle?
- The breakeven for the YORW 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 YORW market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 30.36%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on YORW?
- Straddles on YORW are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy YORW 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 YORW implied volatility affect this straddle?
- YORW ATM IV is at 105.90% with IV rank near 22.59%, 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.