CTGO Cash-Secured Put Strategy

CTGO (Contango Ore, Inc.), in the Basic Materials sector, (Gold industry), listed on AMEX.

Contango Ore, Inc., an exploration stage company, engages in the exploration of gold and associated minerals in the United States. It also explores for copper and silver deposits. The company, through its subsidiaries, leases approximately 675,000 acres from the Tetlin Tribal Council and approximately 13,000 State of Alaska mining claims for exploration and development; and owns 100% interest in the mineral rights to approximately 200,000 acres of State of Alaska mining claims located north and northwest of the Tetlin Lease. The company also holds interest in the Shamrock property that consists of 361 Alaska state mining claims covering approximately 52,640 acres. Contango Ore, Inc. was founded in 2009 and is based in Houston, Texas.

CTGO (Contango Ore, Inc.) trades in the Basic Materials sector, specifically Gold, with a market capitalization of approximately $321.9M, a beta of -0.02 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 13.15-34.38, average daily share volume of 468K, a public-listing history dating back to 2010, approximately 12 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CTGO stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.

A beta of -0.02 indicates CTGO has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure.

What is a cash-secured put on CTGO?

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 CTGO snapshot

As of May 15, 2026, spot at $22.61, ATM IV 63.00%, IV rank 7.55%, expected move 18.06%. The cash-secured put on CTGO 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 CTGO specifically: CTGO IV at 63.00% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling CTGO cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 18.06% (roughly $4.08 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 CTGO expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CTGO should anchor to the underlying notional of $22.61 per share and to the trader's directional view on CTGO stock.

CTGO cash-secured put setup

The CTGO 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 CTGO near $22.61, the first option leg uses a $21.48 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CTGO 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 CTGO shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).

ActionTypeStrike / BasisPremium (est)
Sell 1Put$21.48N/A

CTGO 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.

CTGO cash-secured put payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on CTGO. 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 CTGO

Cash-secured puts on CTGO earn premium while a trader waits to acquire CTGO stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning CTGO.

CTGO thesis for this cash-secured put

The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CTGO extends from approximately $18.53 on the downside to $26.69 on the upside. A CTGO cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire CTGO 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 CTGO IV rank near 7.55% 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 CTGO at 63.00%. As a Basic Materials name, CTGO options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CTGO-specific events.

CTGO 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. CTGO positions also carry Basic Materials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CTGO alongside the broader basket even when CTGO-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on CTGO carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical CTGO earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current CTGO chain quotes before placing a trade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a cash-secured put on CTGO?
A cash-secured put on CTGO is the cash-secured put strategy applied to CTGO (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 CTGO stock trading near $22.61, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CTGO chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
How are CTGO 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 CTGO cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 63.00%), 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 CTGO cash-secured put?
The breakeven for the CTGO 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 CTGO market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 18.06%; 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 CTGO?
Cash-secured puts on CTGO earn premium while a trader waits to acquire CTGO stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning CTGO.
How does current CTGO implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
CTGO ATM IV is at 63.00% with IV rank near 7.55%, 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.

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