In most individual stocks, the major risk factor compared to ETFs is the propensity for outlier moves to be very large.

However, for TSLA, that does not seem to be the case when comparing to an ETF (QQQ).

So then why does the reward for TSLA short options seem to be so large relative to the risk taken?

The answer lies in another risk metric: IV expansion risk.

When IV expands it poses a threat to short premium traders, and since the chance of IV expansion in TSLA is rather high, that is one reason why options are so expensive now.