Breakeven (options)
🟢 plain english
For a call: the strike price plus what you paid. The stock does not just have to go up — it has to go up PAST this line by expiry for the trade to make a single dollar at settlement.
🔬 technical
The discipline is to state the breakeven as a REQUIRED PERCENTAGE MOVE from the current price and a deadline, then ask whether that move has any base rate. A cheap-looking far-out-of-the-money weekly routinely requires the stock to repeat its entire catalyst move again within days — after the catalyst has passed. If saying the requirement out loud sounds absurd, the premium is not cheap, it is worthless-in-expectation. High Implied volatility (IV) widens this line exactly when the story feels most exciting.