How are CNC bear put spread max profit and max loss calculated?

Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit. For the CNC bear put spread priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 38.70%), the computed maximum profit is $182.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$118.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.

What is the breakeven for a CNC bear put spread?

The breakeven for the CNC bear put spread priced on this page is roughly $65.82 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 CNC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 11.10%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.

How does current CNC implied volatility affect this bear put spread?

CNC ATM IV is at 38.70% with IV rank near 4.71%, 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.

CNC Bear Put Spread Strategy

CNC (Centene Corp.), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Healthcare Plans industry), listed on NYSE.

Centene Corporation operates as a managed care company that provides programs and services to under-insured families, and commercial organizations in the United States. It operates through four segments: Medicaid, Medicare, Commercial, and Other. The Medicaid segment offers the temporary assistance for needy families; medicaid expansion; aged, blind, or disabled; and children's health insurance programs, as well as long-term services and supports; foster care; and medicare-medicaid plans. This segment also provides healthcare products and services. The Medicare segment offers special needs and medicare supplement, and prescription drug plans. The Commercial segment provides health insurance marketplace product for individual and commercial group.

CNC (Centene Corp.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Healthcare Plans, with a market capitalization of approximately $33.14B, a beta of 1.09 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 26.23-69.36, average daily share volume of 5.6M, a public-listing history dating back to 2001, approximately 61K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CNC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.

A beta of 1.09 places CNC roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.

What is a bear put spread on CNC?

A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width.

CNC snapshot

As of August 14, 2026, spot at $67.40, ATM IV 38.70%, IV rank 4.71%, expected move 11.10%. The bear put spread on CNC 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 28-day expiry.

Why this bear put spread structure on CNC specifically: CNC IV at 38.70% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CNC bear put spread, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 11.10% (roughly $7.48 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 CNC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CNC should anchor to the underlying notional of $67.40 per share and to the trader's directional view on CNC stock.

CNC bear put spread setup

The CNC bear put spread 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 CNC at $67.40 on that close, the first option leg uses a $67.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CNC 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 CNC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).

Action	Type	Strike / Basis	Premium (est)
Buy 1	Put	$67.00	$2.65
Sell 1	Put	$64.00	$1.47

CNC bear put spread risk and reward

Net Premium / Debit: -$118.00
Max Profit (per contract): $182.00
Max Loss (per contract): -$118.00
Breakeven(s): $65.82
Risk / Reward Ratio: 1.542

Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit.

CNC bear put spread payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bear put spread on CNC. 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.

P&L at expiration across the modeled underlying-price range. Green shading marks profitable regions, red shading marks loss regions. Dotted purple verticals mark breakevens; the solid dark vertical marks current spot.

Underlying Price	% From Spot	P&L at Expiration
$0.01	-100.0%	+$182.00
$14.91	-77.9%	+$182.00
$29.81	-55.8%	+$182.00
$44.71	-33.7%	+$182.00
$59.62	-11.5%	+$182.00
$74.52	+10.6%	-$118.00
$89.42	+32.7%	-$118.00
$104.32	+54.8%	-$118.00
$119.22	+76.9%	-$118.00
$134.12	+99.0%	-$118.00

When traders use bear put spread on CNC

Bear put spreads on CNC reduce the cost of a bearish CNC stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.

CNC thesis for this bear put spread

The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CNC extends from approximately $59.92 on the downside to $74.88 on the upside. A CNC bear put spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bearish position; relative to an outright long put on CNC, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current CNC IV rank near 4.71% 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 CNC at 38.70%. As a Healthcare name, CNC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CNC-specific events.

CNC bear put spread positions are structurally moderately 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. CNC positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CNC alongside the broader basket even when CNC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bear put spread on CNC 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 CNC chain quotes before placing a trade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a bear put spread on CNC?: A bear put spread on CNC is the bear put spread strategy applied to CNC (stock). The strategy is structurally moderately bearish: A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width. With CNC stock at $67.40 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CNC chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
How are CNC bear put spread max profit and max loss calculated?: Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit. For the CNC bear put spread priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 38.70%), the computed maximum profit is $182.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$118.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
What is the breakeven for a CNC bear put spread?: The breakeven for the CNC bear put spread priced on this page is roughly $65.82 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 CNC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 11.10%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
When should you consider a bear put spread on CNC?: Bear put spreads on CNC reduce the cost of a bearish CNC stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
How does current CNC implied volatility affect this bear put spread?: CNC ATM IV is at 38.70% with IV rank near 4.71%, 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.