CFR Cash-Secured Put Strategy
CFR (Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Banks - Regional industry), listed on NYSE.
Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Frost Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking services in Texas. The company offers commercial banking services to corporations, including financing for industrial and commercial properties, interim construction related to industrial and commercial properties, equipment, inventories and accounts receivables, and acquisitions; and treasury management services. It also provides consumer banking services, such as checking accounts, automated-teller machines (ATMs), overdraft facilities, installment and real estate loans, first mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, drive-in and night deposit services, safe deposit facilities, and brokerage services. In addition, the company offers international banking services comprising deposits, loans, letters of credit, foreign collections, funds transmitting, and foreign exchange services; correspondent banking activities, including check clearing, transfer of funds, fixed income security services, and securities custody and clearance services. Further, it offers trust, investment, agency, and custodial services for individual and corporate clients; capital market services that include sales and trading, new issue underwriting, money market trading, advisory, and securities safekeeping and clearance; and support for international business activities, including foreign exchange, letters of credit, export-import financing, and other related activities. Additionally, the company offers insurance and securities brokerage services; holding of securities for investment purposes; and investment management services for mutual funds, institutions, and individuals.
CFR (Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Banks - Regional, with a market capitalization of approximately $10.44B, a trailing P/E of 15.43, a beta of 0.52 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 119-170.29, average daily share volume of 584K, a public-listing history dating back to 1980, approximately 6K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CFR stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.52 indicates CFR has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. CFR 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 CFR?
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.
CFR snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $170.12, ATM IV 20.20%, IV rank 4.23%, expected move 5.79%. The cash-secured put on CFR below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 35-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on CFR specifically: CFR IV at 20.20% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling CFR cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 5.79% (roughly $9.85 on the underlying). The 35-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated CFR expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CFR should anchor to the underlying notional of $170.12 per share and to the trader's directional view on CFR stock.
CFR cash-secured put setup
The CFR cash-secured put below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With CFR at $170.12 on that close, the first option leg uses a $160.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CFR chain at a 35-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 CFR shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $160.00 | $1.25 |
CFR cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$125.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $125.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$15,874.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $158.75
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.008
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
CFR cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on CFR. 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% | -$15,874.00 |
| $37.62 | -77.9% | -$12,112.66 |
| $75.24 | -55.8% | -$8,351.33 |
| $112.85 | -33.7% | -$4,589.99 |
| $150.46 | -11.6% | -$828.65 |
| $188.08 | +10.6% | +$125.00 |
| $225.69 | +32.7% | +$125.00 |
| $263.30 | +54.8% | +$125.00 |
| $300.92 | +76.9% | +$125.00 |
| $338.53 | +99.0% | +$125.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on CFR
Cash-secured puts on CFR earn premium while a trader waits to acquire CFR stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning CFR.
CFR thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CFR extends from approximately $160.27 on the downside to $179.97 on the upside. A CFR cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire CFR 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 CFR IV rank near 4.23% 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 CFR at 20.20%. As a Financial Services name, CFR options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CFR-specific events.
CFR 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. CFR positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CFR alongside the broader basket even when CFR-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on CFR carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical CFR earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current CFR chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on CFR?
- A cash-secured put on CFR is the cash-secured put strategy applied to CFR (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 CFR stock at $170.12 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CFR chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CFR 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 CFR cash-secured put priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 20.20%), the computed maximum profit is $125.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$15,874.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CFR cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the CFR cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $158.75 at expiration, derived from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain's premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The CFR market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 5.79%; 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 CFR?
- Cash-secured puts on CFR earn premium while a trader waits to acquire CFR stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning CFR.
- How does current CFR implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- CFR ATM IV is at 20.20% with IV rank near 4.23%, 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.