NUGT Bear Put Spread Strategy
NUGT (Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 2X ETF), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management - Leveraged industry), listed on AMEX.
The Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull and Bear 2X ETFs seek daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of either 200%, or 200% of the inverse (or opposite), of the performance of the MarketVector Global Gold Miners Index. There is no guarantee the funds will achieve their stated investment objectives.
NUGT (Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 2X ETF) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management - Leveraged, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.18B, a beta of 0.40 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 57.4-320.79, average daily share volume of 663K, a public-listing history dating back to 2010. These structural characteristics shape how NUGT etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.40 indicates NUGT has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. NUGT 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 NUGT?
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 NUGT snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $165.83, ATM IV 91.09%, IV rank 51.72%, expected move 26.11%. The bear put spread on NUGT 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 28-day expiry.
Why this bear put spread structure on NUGT specifically: NUGT IV at 91.09% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so strategy selection should anchor more to the directional thesis than to the IV regime, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 26.11% (roughly $43.31 on the underlying). The 28-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated NUGT expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on NUGT should anchor to the underlying notional of $165.83 per share and to the trader's directional view on NUGT etf.
NUGT bear put spread setup
The NUGT 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 NUGT near $165.83, the first option leg uses a $166.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed NUGT chain at a 28-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 NUGT shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $166.00 | $16.70 |
| Sell 1 | Put | $157.50 | $11.95 |
NUGT bear put spread risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$475.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $375.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$475.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $161.25
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.789
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.
NUGT bear put spread payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bear put spread on NUGT. 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.
| Underlying Price | % From Spot | P&L at Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| $0.01 | -100.0% | +$375.00 |
| $36.67 | -77.9% | +$375.00 |
| $73.34 | -55.8% | +$375.00 |
| $110.00 | -33.7% | +$375.00 |
| $146.67 | -11.6% | +$375.00 |
| $183.33 | +10.6% | -$475.00 |
| $220.00 | +32.7% | -$475.00 |
| $256.66 | +54.8% | -$475.00 |
| $293.33 | +76.9% | -$475.00 |
| $329.99 | +99.0% | -$475.00 |
When traders use bear put spread on NUGT
Bear put spreads on NUGT reduce the cost of a bearish NUGT etf position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
NUGT thesis for this bear put spread
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for NUGT extends from approximately $122.52 on the downside to $209.14 on the upside. A NUGT bear put spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bearish position; relative to an outright long put on NUGT, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current NUGT IV rank near 51.72% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the bear put spread thesis on NUGT should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Financial Services name, NUGT options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to NUGT-specific events.
NUGT 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. NUGT positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move NUGT alongside the broader basket even when NUGT-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bear put spread on NUGT 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 NUGT chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a bear put spread on NUGT?
- A bear put spread on NUGT is the bear put spread strategy applied to NUGT (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 NUGT etf trading near $165.83, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed NUGT chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are NUGT 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 NUGT bear put spread priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 91.09%), the computed maximum profit is $375.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$475.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a NUGT bear put spread?
- The breakeven for the NUGT bear put spread priced on this page is roughly $161.25 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 NUGT market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 26.11%; 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 NUGT?
- Bear put spreads on NUGT reduce the cost of a bearish NUGT 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 NUGT implied volatility affect this bear put spread?
- NUGT ATM IV is at 91.09% with IV rank near 51.72%, which is mid-range against its 1-year history. Strategy selection depends more on directional thesis and expected move than on a strong IV signal.