CRC Long Put Strategy
CRC (California Resources Corporation), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Exploration & Production industry), listed on NYSE.
California Resources Corporation operates as an independent oil and natural gas company. The company explores for, produces, gathers, processes, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids for marketers, California refineries, and other purchasers that have access to transportation and storage facilities. As of December 31, 2021, it had interests in approximately 1.9 million net mineral acres with proved reserves totaled an estimated 480 million barrels of oil equivalent. The company also engages in the generation and sale of electricity to the local utility and the grid. The company was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Santa Clarita, California.
CRC (California Resources Corporation) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Exploration & Production, with a market capitalization of approximately $5.27B, a beta of 0.96 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 41.13-71.98, average daily share volume of 1.0M, a public-listing history dating back to 2020, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CRC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.96 places CRC roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. CRC pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a long put on CRC?
A long put buys downside exposure with a fixed maximum loss equal to the premium paid; profit accrues if the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration.
Current CRC snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $61.03, ATM IV 39.20%, IV rank 35.95%, expected move 11.24%. The long put on CRC 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 63-day expiry.
Why this long put structure on CRC specifically: CRC IV at 39.20% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so strategy selection should anchor more to the directional thesis than to the IV regime, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 11.24% (roughly $6.86 on the underlying). The 63-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated CRC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CRC should anchor to the underlying notional of $61.03 per share and to the trader's directional view on CRC stock.
CRC long put setup
The CRC long 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 CRC near $61.03, the first option leg uses a $60.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CRC chain at a 63-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 CRC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $60.00 | $3.30 |
CRC long put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$330.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $5,669.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$330.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $56.70
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 17.179
Max profit equals the strike minus premium times 100 (reached at zero); max loss equals the premium times 100. Breakeven is strike minus premium.
CRC long put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the long put on CRC. 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% | +$5,669.00 |
| $13.50 | -77.9% | +$4,319.70 |
| $27.00 | -55.8% | +$2,970.41 |
| $40.49 | -33.7% | +$1,621.11 |
| $53.98 | -11.5% | +$271.81 |
| $67.47 | +10.6% | -$330.00 |
| $80.97 | +32.7% | -$330.00 |
| $94.46 | +54.8% | -$330.00 |
| $107.95 | +76.9% | -$330.00 |
| $121.45 | +99.0% | -$330.00 |
When traders use long put on CRC
Long puts on CRC hedge an existing long CRC stock position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying CRC exposure being hedged.
CRC thesis for this long put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CRC extends from approximately $54.17 on the downside to $67.89 on the upside. A CRC long put expresses a directional view that the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration, frequently sized to hedge an existing long CRC position with one put per 100 shares held. Current CRC IV rank near 35.95% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the long put thesis on CRC should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Energy name, CRC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CRC-specific events.
CRC long put positions are structurally 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. CRC positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CRC alongside the broader basket even when CRC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a long put on CRC 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 CRC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a long put on CRC?
- A long put on CRC is the long put strategy applied to CRC (stock). The strategy is structurally bearish: A long put buys downside exposure with a fixed maximum loss equal to the premium paid; profit accrues if the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration. With CRC stock trading near $61.03, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CRC chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CRC long put max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals the strike minus premium times 100 (reached at zero); max loss equals the premium times 100. Breakeven is strike minus premium. For the CRC long put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 39.20%), the computed maximum profit is $5,669.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$330.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CRC long put?
- The breakeven for the CRC long put priced on this page is roughly $56.70 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 CRC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 11.24%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a long put on CRC?
- Long puts on CRC hedge an existing long CRC stock position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying CRC exposure being hedged.
- How does current CRC implied volatility affect this long put?
- CRC ATM IV is at 39.20% with IV rank near 35.95%, which is mid-range against its 1-year history. Strategy selection depends more on directional thesis and expected move than on a strong IV signal.