BIL Bear Put Spread Strategy
BIL (State Street SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management industry), listed on AMEX.
The State Street SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg 1-3 Month U.S. Treasury Bill Index (the "Index")Seeks to provide exposure to publicly issued U.S. Treasury Bills that have a remaining maturities between 1 and 3 monthsShort duration fixed income is less exposed to fluctuations in interest rates than longer duration securitiesRebalanced on the last business day of the month
BIL (State Street SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management, with a market capitalization of approximately $46.43B, a beta of 0.00 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 91.26-91.78, average daily share volume of 11.5M, a public-listing history dating back to 2007. These structural characteristics shape how BIL etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.00 indicates BIL has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. BIL pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a bear put spread on BIL?
A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width.
Current BIL snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $91.53, ATM IV 1.00%, IV rank 0.02%, expected move 0.29%. The bear put spread on BIL 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 34-day expiry.
Why this bear put spread structure on BIL specifically: BIL IV at 1.00% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a BIL bear put spread, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 0.29% (roughly $0.26 on the underlying). The 34-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated BIL expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on BIL should anchor to the underlying notional of $91.53 per share and to the trader's directional view on BIL etf.
BIL bear put spread setup
The BIL bear put spread below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With BIL near $91.53, the first option leg uses a $91.53 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed BIL chain at a 34-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 BIL shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $91.53 | N/A |
| Sell 1 | Put | $86.95 | N/A |
BIL bear put spread 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
Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit.
BIL bear put spread payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bear put spread on BIL. 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 bear put spread on BIL
Bear put spreads on BIL reduce the cost of a bearish BIL etf position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
BIL thesis for this bear put spread
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for BIL extends from approximately $91.27 on the downside to $91.79 on the upside. A BIL bear put spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bearish position; relative to an outright long put on BIL, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current BIL IV rank near 0.02% 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 BIL at 1.00%. As a Financial Services name, BIL options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to BIL-specific events.
BIL bear put spread positions are structurally moderately bearish; 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. BIL positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move BIL alongside the broader basket even when BIL-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bear put spread on BIL are particularly exposed to IV-crush risk through scheduled events (earnings, FDA decisions, central-bank meetings) where IV typically contracts post-event regardless of the directional outcome. Always rebuild the position from current BIL chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a bear put spread on BIL?
- A bear put spread on BIL is the bear put spread strategy applied to BIL (etf). The strategy is structurally moderately bearish: A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width. With BIL etf trading near $91.53, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed BIL chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are BIL bear put spread max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit. For the BIL bear put spread priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 1.00%), 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 BIL bear put spread?
- The breakeven for the BIL bear put spread 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 BIL market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 0.29%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a bear put spread on BIL?
- Bear put spreads on BIL reduce the cost of a bearish BIL etf position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
- How does current BIL implied volatility affect this bear put spread?
- BIL ATM IV is at 1.00% with IV rank near 0.02%, 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.