USCI Long Put Strategy
USCI (United States Commodity Index Fund), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management industry), listed on AMEX.
The fund strives to accomplish its financial goals by committing the vast majority of its assets to the Benchmark Component Futures Contracts. This underlying index, the SDCI, is structured to mimic the returns of a broad and diverse selection of commodities.
USCI (United States Commodity Index Fund) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management, with a market capitalization of approximately $372.6M, a beta of 0.86 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 72.73-102.93, average daily share volume of 26K, a public-listing history dating back to 2010. These structural characteristics shape how USCI etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.86 places USCI roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a long put on USCI?
A long put buys downside exposure with a fixed maximum loss equal to the premium paid; profit accrues if the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration.
Current USCI snapshot
As of June 30, 2026, spot at $92.76, ATM IV 15.80%, IV rank 4.39%, expected move 4.53%. The long put on USCI 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 17-day expiry.
Why this long put structure on USCI specifically: USCI IV at 15.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a USCI long put, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 4.53% (roughly $4.20 on the underlying). The 17-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated USCI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on USCI should anchor to the underlying notional of $92.76 per share and to the trader's directional view on USCI etf.
USCI long put setup
The USCI long put below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With USCI near $92.76, the first option leg uses a $93.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed USCI chain at a 17-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 USCI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $93.00 | $1.40 |
USCI long put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$140.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $9,159.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$140.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $91.60
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 65.421
Max profit equals the strike minus premium times 100 (reached at zero); max loss equals the premium times 100. Breakeven is strike minus premium.
USCI long put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the long put on USCI. 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% | +$9,159.00 |
| $20.52 | -77.9% | +$7,108.14 |
| $41.03 | -55.8% | +$5,057.27 |
| $61.54 | -33.7% | +$3,006.41 |
| $82.04 | -11.6% | +$955.54 |
| $102.55 | +10.6% | -$140.00 |
| $123.06 | +32.7% | -$140.00 |
| $143.57 | +54.8% | -$140.00 |
| $164.08 | +76.9% | -$140.00 |
| $184.59 | +99.0% | -$140.00 |
When traders use long put on USCI
Long puts on USCI hedge an existing long USCI etf position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying USCI exposure being hedged.
USCI thesis for this long put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for USCI extends from approximately $88.56 on the downside to $96.96 on the upside. A USCI long put expresses a directional view that the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration, frequently sized to hedge an existing long USCI position with one put per 100 shares held. Current USCI IV rank near 4.39% 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 USCI at 15.80%. As a Financial Services name, USCI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to USCI-specific events.
USCI long put positions are structurally 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. USCI positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move USCI alongside the broader basket even when USCI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a long put on USCI 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 USCI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a long put on USCI?
- A long put on USCI is the long put strategy applied to USCI (etf). The strategy is structurally bearish: A long put buys downside exposure with a fixed maximum loss equal to the premium paid; profit accrues if the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration. With USCI etf trading near $92.76, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed USCI chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are USCI long put max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals the strike minus premium times 100 (reached at zero); max loss equals the premium times 100. Breakeven is strike minus premium. For the USCI long put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 15.80%), the computed maximum profit is $9,159.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$140.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a USCI long put?
- The breakeven for the USCI long put priced on this page is roughly $91.60 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 USCI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 4.53%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a long put on USCI?
- Long puts on USCI hedge an existing long USCI etf position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying USCI exposure being hedged.
- How does current USCI implied volatility affect this long put?
- USCI ATM IV is at 15.80% with IV rank near 4.39%, 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.