AR Cash-Secured Put Strategy
AR (Antero Resources Corporation), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Exploration & Production industry), listed on NYSE.
Antero Resources Corporation, an independent oil and natural gas company, acquires, explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, natural gas liquids, and oil properties in the United States. As of December 31, 2021, it had approximately 502,000 net acres in the Appalachian Basin; and 174,000 net acres in the Upper Devonian Shale. The company also owned and operated 494 miles of gas gathering pipelines in the Appalachian Basin; and 21 compressor stations. It had estimated proved reserves of 17.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent, including 10.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas; 718 million barrels of assumed recovered ethane; 501 million barrels of primarily propane, isobutane, normal butane, and natural gasoline; and 36 million barrels of oil. The company was formerly known as Antero Resources Appalachian Corporation and changed its name to Antero Resources Corporation in June 2013. Antero Resources Corporation was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
AR (Antero Resources Corporation) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Exploration & Production, with a market capitalization of approximately $11.38B, a trailing P/E of 11.80, a beta of 0.36 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 29.1-45.75, average daily share volume of 5.7M, a public-listing history dating back to 2013, approximately 616 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how AR stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.36 indicates AR has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. The trailing P/E of 11.80 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price.
What is a cash-secured put on AR?
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 AR snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $38.23, ATM IV 38.74%, IV rank 29.97%, expected move 11.11%. The cash-secured put on AR 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 cash-secured put structure on AR specifically: AR IV at 38.74% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling AR cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 11.11% (roughly $4.25 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 AR expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on AR should anchor to the underlying notional of $38.23 per share and to the trader's directional view on AR stock.
AR cash-secured put setup
The AR 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 AR near $38.23, the first option leg uses a $36.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed AR 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 AR shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $36.00 | $0.60 |
AR cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$60.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $60.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$3,539.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $35.40
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.017
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
AR cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on AR. 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% | -$3,539.00 |
| $8.46 | -77.9% | -$2,693.82 |
| $16.91 | -55.8% | -$1,848.65 |
| $25.37 | -33.7% | -$1,003.47 |
| $33.82 | -11.5% | -$158.30 |
| $42.27 | +10.6% | +$60.00 |
| $50.72 | +32.7% | +$60.00 |
| $59.17 | +54.8% | +$60.00 |
| $67.62 | +76.9% | +$60.00 |
| $76.08 | +99.0% | +$60.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on AR
Cash-secured puts on AR earn premium while a trader waits to acquire AR stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning AR.
AR thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for AR extends from approximately $33.98 on the downside to $42.48 on the upside. A AR cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire AR 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 AR IV rank near 29.97% 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 AR at 38.74%. As a Energy name, AR options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to AR-specific events.
AR 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. AR positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move AR alongside the broader basket even when AR-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on AR carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical AR earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current AR chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on AR?
- A cash-secured put on AR is the cash-secured put strategy applied to AR (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 AR stock trading near $38.23, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed AR chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are AR 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 AR cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 38.74%), the computed maximum profit is $60.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$3,539.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a AR cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the AR cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $35.40 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 AR market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 11.11%; 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 AR?
- Cash-secured puts on AR earn premium while a trader waits to acquire AR stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning AR.
- How does current AR implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- AR ATM IV is at 38.74% with IV rank near 29.97%, 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.