ELV Cash-Secured Put Strategy
ELV (Elevance Health Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Healthcare Plans industry), listed on NYSE.
Operating as a major health benefits organization, Elevance Health Inc. commits to guiding consumers, families, and communities across their entire health and wellness path. It facilitates access to vital care, assistance, and tools designed to enable healthier living for approximately 118 million individuals. The company's comprehensive offerings span medical, digital, pharmaceutical, behavioral health, clinical, and other care solutions. Founded in 1944 and based in Indianapolis, Indiana, this entity adopted its current name, Elevance Health Inc., in June 2022, having previously operated as Anthem, Inc.
ELV (Elevance Health Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Healthcare Plans, with a market capitalization of approximately $85.82B, a trailing P/E of 16.62, a beta of 0.68 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 273.71-426.98, average daily share volume of 1.7M, a public-listing history dating back to 2001, approximately 104K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how ELV stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.68 indicates ELV has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. ELV pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a cash-secured put on ELV?
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 ELV snapshot
As of June 30, 2026, spot at $387.25, ATM IV 40.60%, IV rank 43.09%, expected move 11.64%. The cash-secured put on ELV 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 17-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on ELV specifically: ELV IV at 40.60% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a ELV cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 11.64% (roughly $45.07 on the underlying). The 17-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated ELV expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on ELV should anchor to the underlying notional of $387.25 per share and to the trader's directional view on ELV stock.
ELV cash-secured put setup
The ELV 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 ELV near $387.25, the first option leg uses a $370.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed ELV chain at a 17-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 ELV shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $370.00 | $6.45 |
ELV cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$645.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $645.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$36,354.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $363.55
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.018
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
ELV cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on ELV. 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% | -$36,354.00 |
| $85.63 | -77.9% | -$27,791.80 |
| $171.25 | -55.8% | -$19,229.60 |
| $256.88 | -33.7% | -$10,667.40 |
| $342.50 | -11.6% | -$2,105.20 |
| $428.12 | +10.6% | +$645.00 |
| $513.74 | +32.7% | +$645.00 |
| $599.36 | +54.8% | +$645.00 |
| $684.99 | +76.9% | +$645.00 |
| $770.61 | +99.0% | +$645.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on ELV
Cash-secured puts on ELV earn premium while a trader waits to acquire ELV stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning ELV.
ELV thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for ELV extends from approximately $342.18 on the downside to $432.32 on the upside. A ELV cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire ELV 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 ELV IV rank near 43.09% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put thesis on ELV should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Healthcare name, ELV options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to ELV-specific events.
ELV 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. ELV positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move ELV alongside the broader basket even when ELV-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on ELV carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical ELV earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current ELV chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on ELV?
- A cash-secured put on ELV is the cash-secured put strategy applied to ELV (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 ELV stock trading near $387.25, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed ELV chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are ELV 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 ELV cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 40.60%), the computed maximum profit is $645.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$36,354.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a ELV cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the ELV cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $363.55 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 ELV market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 11.64%; 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 ELV?
- Cash-secured puts on ELV earn premium while a trader waits to acquire ELV stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning ELV.
- How does current ELV implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- ELV ATM IV is at 40.60% with IV rank near 43.09%, 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.