Trading a CARS straddle lets you take a pure volatility position on Cars.com without committing to a direction. Cars.com's straddle involves buying (or selling) a call and a put at the same strike and expiration, profiting when the stock moves more (or less) than the combined premium implies. Use our scanner to evaluate CARS straddle pricing in real time and find the moments when expected moves are mispriced.
A long straddle on CARS profits from large moves in either direction and is a classic play into binary events like earnings, product announcements, or macro releases. A short straddle profits when Cars.com stays range-bound and implied volatility contracts. The breakeven points are simple: strike plus total premium on the upside, strike minus total premium on the downside. Comparing the CARS straddle price to historical realized moves helps you judge whether the market is overpaying or underpaying for volatility.
Cars.com Inc. operates as a digital marketplace and provides solutions for the automotive industry. Its platform connects car shoppers with sellers. The company, through its marketplace, dealer websites, and other digital products, showcases dealer inventory, elevate and amplify dealers' and automotive manufacturers' (OEMs) brands, connect sellers with ready-to-buy audience, and empower shoppers with the resources and information needed to make car buying decisions. It also offers marketplace products, such as marketplace subscription advertising and social selling services; digital solutions, including Website platform hosting, AI chat tool, digital retailing, and review and reputation management; and advertising comprising display advertising, instant loan screening and approvals, digital advertising, and in-market audio services.
As of December 31, 2021, the company served 19,179 dealer customers in 50 states, which included franchise and independent dealers, with digital and brick-and-mortar stores; and primary automakers selling vehicles in the United States. Its customers are local car dealers, OEMs, and other national advertisers. Cars.com Inc. was founded in 1998 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.
Earnings, product cycles, macro prints — any time volatility itself is the trade, the CARS straddle is the cleanest expression of that view. Our scanner prices every CARS straddle against historical realized moves, flags expirations where the market is overpaying or underpaying for vol, and ranks setups by breakeven width and IV rank. Whether you're long a CARS straddle into a catalyst or short a CARS straddle to harvest decay, the options straddle setups that matter are all in one place.
