ELV Long 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 $86.82B, a trailing P/E of 17.58, a beta of 0.69 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 274.84-436.24, average daily share volume of 1.6M, a public-listing history dating back to 2001, approximately 97K 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 0.69 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 long put on ELV?
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.
ELV snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $401.70, ATM IV 29.80%, IV rank 4.65%, expected move 8.54%. The long put on ELV below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 35-day expiry.
Why this long put structure on ELV specifically: ELV IV at 29.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a ELV long put, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 8.54% (roughly $34.32 on the underlying). The 35-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 $401.70 per share and to the trader's directional view on ELV stock.
ELV long put setup
The ELV long put below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With ELV at $401.70 on that close, the first option leg uses a $400.00 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 35-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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $400.00 | $13.55 |
ELV long put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$1,355.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $38,644.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$1,355.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $386.45
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 28.520
Max profit equals the strike minus premium times 100 (reached at zero); max loss equals the premium times 100. Breakeven is strike minus premium.
ELV long put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the long 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% | +$38,644.00 |
| $88.83 | -77.9% | +$29,762.30 |
| $177.64 | -55.8% | +$20,880.60 |
| $266.46 | -33.7% | +$11,998.90 |
| $355.28 | -11.6% | +$3,117.21 |
| $444.09 | +10.6% | -$1,355.00 |
| $532.91 | +32.7% | -$1,355.00 |
| $621.73 | +54.8% | -$1,355.00 |
| $710.55 | +76.9% | -$1,355.00 |
| $799.36 | +99.0% | -$1,355.00 |
When traders use long put on ELV
Long puts on ELV hedge an existing long ELV stock position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying ELV exposure being hedged.
ELV thesis for this long put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for ELV extends from approximately $367.38 on the downside to $436.02 on the upside. A ELV long put expresses a directional view that the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration, frequently sized to hedge an existing long ELV position with one put per 100 shares held. Current ELV IV rank near 4.65% 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 ELV at 29.80%. 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 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. 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. Long-premium structures like a long put on ELV 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 ELV chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a long put on ELV?
- A long put on ELV is the long put strategy applied to ELV (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 ELV stock at $401.70 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed ELV chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are ELV 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 ELV long put priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 29.80%), the computed maximum profit is $38,644.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$1,355.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a ELV long put?
- The breakeven for the ELV long put priced on this page is roughly $386.45 at expiration, derived from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain's premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The ELV market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 8.54%; 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 ELV?
- Long puts on ELV hedge an existing long ELV stock position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying ELV exposure being hedged.
- How does current ELV implied volatility affect this long put?
- ELV ATM IV is at 29.80% with IV rank near 4.65%, 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.