AIT Cash-Secured Put Strategy
AIT (Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc.), in the Industrials sector, (Industrial - Distribution industry), listed on NYSE.
Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. distributes industrial motion, power, control, and automation technology solutions in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. It operates through two segments, Service Center Based Distribution, and Fluid Power & Flow Control. The company distributes bearings, power transmission products, engineered fluid power components and systems, specialty flow control solutions, advanced automation products, industrial rubber products, linear motion components, automation solutions, tools, safety products, oilfield supplies, and other industrial and maintenance supplies; and motors, belting, drives, couplings, pumps, hydraulic and pneumatic components, filtration supplies, valves, fittings, process instrumentation, actuators, and hoses, filtration supplies, as well as other related supplies for general operational needs of customers' machinery and equipment. It also operates fabricated rubber shops and service field crews that install, modify, and repair conveyor belts and rubber linings, as well as offer hose assemblies. In addition, the company provides equipment repair and technical support services. It distributes industrial products through a network of service centers.
AIT (Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc.) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Industrial - Distribution, with a market capitalization of approximately $11.49B, a trailing P/E of 28.89, a beta of 0.86 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 218.48-317.1, average daily share volume of 295K, a public-listing history dating back to 1980, approximately 7K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how AIT stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.86 places AIT roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. AIT pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a cash-secured put on AIT?
A cash-secured put sells an out-of-the-money put while holding cash equal to the strike-times-100 obligation, keeping the premium when the underlying stays above the strike.
Current AIT snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $308.78, ATM IV 28.00%, IV rank 28.73%, expected move 8.03%. The cash-secured put on AIT 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 cash-secured put structure on AIT specifically: AIT IV at 28.00% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling AIT cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 8.03% (roughly $24.79 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 AIT expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on AIT should anchor to the underlying notional of $308.78 per share and to the trader's directional view on AIT stock.
AIT cash-secured put setup
The AIT cash-secured 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 AIT near $308.78, the first option leg uses a $290.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed AIT 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 AIT shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $290.00 | $3.53 |
AIT cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$352.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $352.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$28,646.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $286.48
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.012
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
AIT cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on AIT. 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% | -$28,646.50 |
| $68.28 | -77.9% | -$21,819.31 |
| $136.55 | -55.8% | -$14,992.13 |
| $204.83 | -33.7% | -$8,164.94 |
| $273.10 | -11.6% | -$1,337.76 |
| $341.37 | +10.6% | +$352.50 |
| $409.64 | +32.7% | +$352.50 |
| $477.91 | +54.8% | +$352.50 |
| $546.18 | +76.9% | +$352.50 |
| $614.46 | +99.0% | +$352.50 |
When traders use cash-secured put on AIT
Cash-secured puts on AIT earn premium while a trader waits to acquire AIT stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning AIT.
AIT thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for AIT extends from approximately $283.99 on the downside to $333.57 on the upside. A AIT cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire AIT at the strike price; the strategy is most attractive when the trader is comfortable holding the underlying at that level and IV is rich enough to compensate for the assignment risk. Current AIT IV rank near 28.73% 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 AIT at 28.00%. As a Industrials name, AIT options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to AIT-specific events.
AIT cash-secured put positions are structurally neutral to slightly bullish; 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. AIT positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move AIT alongside the broader basket even when AIT-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on AIT carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical AIT earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current AIT chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on AIT?
- A cash-secured put on AIT is the cash-secured put strategy applied to AIT (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral to slightly bullish: A cash-secured put sells an out-of-the-money put while holding cash equal to the strike-times-100 obligation, keeping the premium when the underlying stays above the strike. With AIT stock trading near $308.78, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed AIT chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are AIT cash-secured put max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium. For the AIT cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 28.00%), the computed maximum profit is $352.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$28,646.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a AIT cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the AIT cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $286.48 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 AIT market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 8.03%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a cash-secured put on AIT?
- Cash-secured puts on AIT earn premium while a trader waits to acquire AIT stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning AIT.
- How does current AIT implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- AIT ATM IV is at 28.00% with IV rank near 28.73%, 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.