CYH Covered Call Strategy
CYH (Community Health Systems, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Care Facilities industry), listed on NYSE.
Community Health Systems, Inc. owns, leases, and operates general acute care hospitals in the United States. It offers general acute care, emergency room, general and specialty surgery, critical care, internal medicine, obstetrics, diagnostic, psychiatric, and rehabilitation services, as well as skilled nursing and home care services. The company also provides outpatient services at primary care practices, urgent care centers, free-standing emergency departments, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging and diagnostic centers, retail clinics, and direct-to-consumer virtual health visits. As of December 31, 2021, it owned or leased 83 hospitals, including 81 general acute care hospitals and two stand-alone rehabilitation or psychiatric hospitals with an aggregate of 13,289 licensed beds. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee.
CYH (Community Health Systems, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Care Facilities, with a market capitalization of approximately $410.1M, a beta of 1.89 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 2.38-4.47, average daily share volume of 1.7M, a public-listing history dating back to 2000, approximately 45K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CYH stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.89 indicates CYH has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position.
What is a covered call on CYH?
A covered call pairs long stock with a short out-of-the-money call, collecting premium and capping upside above the short strike in exchange for income.
Current CYH snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $2.81, ATM IV 71.30%, IV rank 11.09%, expected move 20.44%. The covered call on CYH 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 covered call structure on CYH specifically: CYH IV at 71.30% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling CYH covered call collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 20.44% (roughly $0.57 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 CYH expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CYH should anchor to the underlying notional of $2.81 per share and to the trader's directional view on CYH stock.
CYH covered call setup
The CYH covered call below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With CYH near $2.81, the first option leg uses a $2.95 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CYH 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 CYH shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $2.81 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $2.95 | N/A |
CYH covered call 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 short-strike minus cost basis plus premium times 100; max loss is cost basis minus premium (at zero). Breakeven is cost basis minus premium.
CYH covered call payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the covered call on CYH. 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 covered call on CYH
Covered calls on CYH are an income strategy run on existing CYH stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
CYH thesis for this covered call
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CYH extends from approximately $2.24 on the downside to $3.38 on the upside. A CYH covered call collects premium on an existing long CYH position, trading off upside above the short call strike for immediate income; the short strike selection should reflect the trader's view on whether CYH will breach that level within the expiration window. Current CYH IV rank near 11.09% 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 CYH at 71.30%. As a Healthcare name, CYH options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CYH-specific events.
CYH covered call 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. CYH positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CYH alongside the broader basket even when CYH-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a covered call on CYH carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical CYH earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current CYH chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a covered call on CYH?
- A covered call on CYH is the covered call strategy applied to CYH (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral to slightly bullish: A covered call pairs long stock with a short out-of-the-money call, collecting premium and capping upside above the short strike in exchange for income. With CYH stock trading near $2.81, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CYH chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CYH covered call max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals short-strike minus cost basis plus premium times 100; max loss is cost basis minus premium (at zero). Breakeven is cost basis minus premium. For the CYH covered call priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 71.30%), 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 CYH covered call?
- The breakeven for the CYH covered call 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 CYH market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 20.44%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a covered call on CYH?
- Covered calls on CYH are an income strategy run on existing CYH stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
- How does current CYH implied volatility affect this covered call?
- CYH ATM IV is at 71.30% with IV rank near 11.09%, 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.