How are CNO collar max profit and max loss calculated?

Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium. For the CNO collar priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 34.90%), the computed maximum profit is $206.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$194.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.

What is the breakeven for a CNO collar?

The breakeven for the CNO collar priced on this page is roughly $46.94 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 CNO market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 10.01%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.

How does current CNO implied volatility affect this collar?

CNO ATM IV is at 34.90% with IV rank near 4.73%, 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.

CNO Collar Strategy

CNO (CNO Financial Group, Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Insurance - Life industry), listed on NYSE.

CNO Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, and other insurance products for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. It offers Medicare supplement, supplemental health, and long-term care insurance policies; life insurance; and annuities, as well as Medicare advantage plans to individuals through phone, online, mail, and face-to-face. The company also focuses on worksite and group sales for businesses, associations, and other membership groups by interacting with customers at their place of employment. In addition, it provides fixed index annuities; fixed interest annuities, including fixed rate single and flexible premium deferred annuities; single premium immediate annuities; supplemental health products, such as specified disease, accident, and hospital indemnity products; and long-term care plans primarily to retirees and older self-employed individuals in the middle-income market. Further, the company offers universal life and other interest-sensitive life products; and traditional life policies that include whole life, graded benefit life, term life, and single premium whole life products, as well as graded benefit life insurance products. CNO Financial Group, Inc. markets its products under the Bankers Life, Washington National, and Colonial Penn brand names.

CNO (CNO Financial Group, Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Insurance - Life, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.30B, a trailing P/E of 17.64, a beta of 0.83 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 35.24-46.33, average daily share volume of 690K, a public-listing history dating back to 2003, approximately 3K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CNO stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.

A beta of 0.83 places CNO roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. CNO pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.

What is a collar on CNO?

A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot.

Current CNO snapshot

As of May 15, 2026, spot at $46.88, ATM IV 34.90%, IV rank 4.73%, expected move 10.01%. The collar on CNO 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 collar structure on CNO specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; compressed CNO IV at 34.90% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 10.01% (roughly $4.69 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 CNO expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CNO should anchor to the underlying notional of $46.88 per share and to the trader's directional view on CNO stock.

CNO collar setup

The CNO collar below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With CNO near $46.88, the first option leg uses a $49.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CNO 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 CNO shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).

Action	Type	Strike / Basis	Premium (est)
Buy 100 shares	Stock	$46.88	long
Sell 1	Call	$49.00	$0.40
Buy 1	Put	$45.00	$0.46

CNO collar risk and reward

Net Premium / Debit: -$4,694.00
Max Profit (per contract): $206.00
Max Loss (per contract): -$194.00
Breakeven(s): $46.94
Risk / Reward Ratio: 1.062

Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium.

CNO collar payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar on CNO. 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%	-$194.00
$10.37	-77.9%	-$194.00
$20.74	-55.8%	-$194.00
$31.10	-33.7%	-$194.00
$41.47	-11.5%	-$194.00
$51.83	+10.6%	+$206.00
$62.20	+32.7%	+$206.00
$72.56	+54.8%	+$206.00
$82.92	+76.9%	+$206.00
$93.29	+99.0%	+$206.00

When traders use collar on CNO

Collars on CNO hedge an existing long CNO stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.

CNO thesis for this collar

The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CNO extends from approximately $42.19 on the downside to $51.57 on the upside. A CNO collar hedges an existing long CNO position with a protective put while financing the put cost via a short call; when the premiums roughly offset, the collar acts as a near-zero-cost insurance band around the current spot. Current CNO IV rank near 4.73% 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 CNO at 34.90%. As a Financial Services name, CNO options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CNO-specific events.

CNO collar positions are structurally neutral (protective); 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. CNO positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CNO alongside the broader basket even when CNO-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CNO chain quotes before placing a trade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a collar on CNO?: A collar on CNO is the collar strategy applied to CNO (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral (protective): A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot. With CNO stock trading near $46.88, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CNO chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
How are CNO collar max profit and max loss calculated?: Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium. For the CNO collar priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 34.90%), the computed maximum profit is $206.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$194.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
What is the breakeven for a CNO collar?: The breakeven for the CNO collar priced on this page is roughly $46.94 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 CNO market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 10.01%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
When should you consider a collar on CNO?: Collars on CNO hedge an existing long CNO stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
How does current CNO implied volatility affect this collar?: CNO ATM IV is at 34.90% with IV rank near 4.73%, 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.