Synthetic Straddles
Straddles are the pet strategy of certain professional traders who specialize
in trading volatility. In fact, in the mind of many of these traders, a straddle
is all there is. Any single-legged trade can be turned into a straddle
synthetically simply by adding stock.
Chapter 6 discussed put-call parity and showed that, for all intents and
purposes, a put is a call and a call is a put. For the most part, the greeks of
the options in the put-call pair are essentially the same. The delta is the only
real difference. And, of course, that can be easily corrected. As a matter of
perspective, one can make the case that buying two calls is essentially the
same as buying a call and a put, once stock enters into the equation.
Take a non-dividend-paying stock trading at $40 a share. With 60 days
until expiration, a 25 volatility, and a 4 percent interest rate, the greeks of
the 40-strike calls and puts of the straddle are as follows:
Essentially, the same position can be created by buying one leg of the
spread synthetically. For example, in addition to buying one 40 call, another
40 call can be purchased along with shorting 100 shares of stock to create a
40 put synthetically.