FCFS Bear Put Spread Strategy
FCFS (FirstCash Holdings, Inc), in the Financial Services sector, (Financial - Credit Services industry), listed on NASDAQ.
FirstCash Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates retail pawn stores in the United States, Mexico, and rest of Latin America. Its pawn stores lend money on the collateral of pledged personal property, including jewelry, electronics, tools, appliances, sporting goods, and musical instruments; and retails merchandise acquired through collateral forfeitures on forfeited pawn loans and over-the-counter purchases of merchandise directly from customers. The company is also involved in melting scrap jewelry, as well as sells gold, silver, and diamonds in commodity markets. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 1,081 stores in the United States and the District of Columbia; 1,656 stores in Mexico; 60 stores in Guatemala; 13 stores in El Salvador; and 15 stores in Colombia. The company was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.
FCFS (FirstCash Holdings, Inc) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Financial - Credit Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $9.83B, a trailing P/E of 27.99, a beta of 0.53 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 119.21-235.97, average daily share volume of 353K, a public-listing history dating back to 1991, approximately 20K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how FCFS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.53 indicates FCFS has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. FCFS pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a bear put spread on FCFS?
A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width.
Current FCFS snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $225.38, ATM IV 30.50%, IV rank 46.48%, expected move 8.74%. The bear put spread on FCFS 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 bear put spread structure on FCFS specifically: FCFS IV at 30.50% 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 8.74% (roughly $19.71 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 FCFS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on FCFS should anchor to the underlying notional of $225.38 per share and to the trader's directional view on FCFS stock.
FCFS bear put spread setup
The FCFS bear put spread below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With FCFS near $225.38, the first option leg uses a $230.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed FCFS 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 FCFS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $230.00 | $10.20 |
| Sell 1 | Put | $210.00 | $3.58 |
FCFS bear put spread risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$662.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $1,337.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$662.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $223.38
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 2.019
Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit.
FCFS bear put spread payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bear put spread on FCFS. 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% | +$1,337.50 |
| $49.84 | -77.9% | +$1,337.50 |
| $99.67 | -55.8% | +$1,337.50 |
| $149.50 | -33.7% | +$1,337.50 |
| $199.34 | -11.6% | +$1,337.50 |
| $249.17 | +10.6% | -$662.50 |
| $299.00 | +32.7% | -$662.50 |
| $348.83 | +54.8% | -$662.50 |
| $398.66 | +76.9% | -$662.50 |
| $448.49 | +99.0% | -$662.50 |
When traders use bear put spread on FCFS
Bear put spreads on FCFS reduce the cost of a bearish FCFS stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
FCFS thesis for this bear put spread
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for FCFS extends from approximately $205.67 on the downside to $245.09 on the upside. A FCFS bear put spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bearish position; relative to an outright long put on FCFS, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current FCFS IV rank near 46.48% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the bear put spread thesis on FCFS should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Financial Services name, FCFS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to FCFS-specific events.
FCFS bear put spread positions are structurally moderately 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. FCFS positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move FCFS alongside the broader basket even when FCFS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bear put spread on FCFS 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 FCFS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a bear put spread on FCFS?
- A bear put spread on FCFS is the bear put spread strategy applied to FCFS (stock). The strategy is structurally moderately bearish: A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width. With FCFS stock trading near $225.38, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed FCFS chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are FCFS bear put spread max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit. For the FCFS bear put spread priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 30.50%), the computed maximum profit is $1,337.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$662.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a FCFS bear put spread?
- The breakeven for the FCFS bear put spread priced on this page is roughly $223.38 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 FCFS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 8.74%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a bear put spread on FCFS?
- Bear put spreads on FCFS reduce the cost of a bearish FCFS stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
- How does current FCFS implied volatility affect this bear put spread?
- FCFS ATM IV is at 30.50% with IV rank near 46.48%, 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.