ARQ Cash-Secured Put Strategy
ARQ (Arq, Inc.), in the Industrials sector, (Industrial - Pollution & Treatment Controls industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Arq, Inc. produces activated carbon products in North America. The company's products include granular activated carbon, powdered activated carbon, and colloidal carbon products; Arq Powder Wetcake, a fine and low-ash coal waste-derived particle; and additives for air emissions control. Its products are used in various applications, including; water treatment, ground water remediation, soil sediments, air emissions, and asphalt additives. The company was formerly known as Advanced Emissions Solutions, Inc. and changed its name to Arq, Inc. in February 2024. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado.
ARQ (Arq, Inc.) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Industrial - Pollution & Treatment Controls, with a market capitalization of approximately $109.5M, a beta of 2.70 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 1.54-7.89, average daily share volume of 856K, a public-listing history dating back to 2004, approximately 200 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how ARQ stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 2.70 indicates ARQ has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position.
What is a cash-secured put on ARQ?
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 ARQ snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $2.60, ATM IV 48.40%, IV rank 3.01%, expected move 13.88%. The cash-secured put on ARQ 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 ARQ specifically: ARQ IV at 48.40% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling ARQ cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 13.88% (roughly $0.36 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 ARQ expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on ARQ should anchor to the underlying notional of $2.60 per share and to the trader's directional view on ARQ stock.
ARQ cash-secured put setup
The ARQ 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 ARQ near $2.60, the first option leg uses a $2.47 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed ARQ 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 ARQ shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $2.47 | N/A |
ARQ cash-secured put 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 premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
ARQ cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on ARQ. 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 cash-secured put on ARQ
Cash-secured puts on ARQ earn premium while a trader waits to acquire ARQ stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning ARQ.
ARQ thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for ARQ extends from approximately $2.24 on the downside to $2.96 on the upside. A ARQ cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire ARQ 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 ARQ IV rank near 3.01% 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 ARQ at 48.40%. As a Industrials name, ARQ options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to ARQ-specific events.
ARQ 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. ARQ positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move ARQ alongside the broader basket even when ARQ-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on ARQ carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical ARQ earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current ARQ chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on ARQ?
- A cash-secured put on ARQ is the cash-secured put strategy applied to ARQ (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 ARQ stock trading near $2.60, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed ARQ chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are ARQ 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 ARQ cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 48.40%), 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 ARQ cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the ARQ cash-secured put 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 ARQ market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 13.88%; 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 ARQ?
- Cash-secured puts on ARQ earn premium while a trader waits to acquire ARQ stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning ARQ.
- How does current ARQ implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- ARQ ATM IV is at 48.40% with IV rank near 3.01%, 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.