FCFS Cash-Secured Put 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 cash-secured put on FCFS?
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 FCFS snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $225.38, ATM IV 30.50%, IV rank 46.48%, expected move 8.74%. The cash-secured put 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 cash-secured put structure on FCFS specifically: FCFS IV at 30.50% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a FCFS cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, 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 cash-secured put setup
The FCFS 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 FCFS near $225.38, the first option leg uses a $210.00 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $210.00 | $3.58 |
FCFS cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$357.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $357.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$20,641.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $206.43
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.017
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
FCFS cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put 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% | -$20,641.50 |
| $49.84 | -77.9% | -$15,658.33 |
| $99.67 | -55.8% | -$10,675.17 |
| $149.50 | -33.7% | -$5,692.00 |
| $199.34 | -11.6% | -$708.84 |
| $249.17 | +10.6% | +$357.50 |
| $299.00 | +32.7% | +$357.50 |
| $348.83 | +54.8% | +$357.50 |
| $398.66 | +76.9% | +$357.50 |
| $448.49 | +99.0% | +$357.50 |
When traders use cash-secured put on FCFS
Cash-secured puts on FCFS earn premium while a trader waits to acquire FCFS stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning FCFS.
FCFS thesis for this cash-secured put
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 cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire FCFS 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 FCFS IV rank near 46.48% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put 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 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. 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. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on FCFS carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical FCFS earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current FCFS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on FCFS?
- A cash-secured put on FCFS is the cash-secured put strategy applied to FCFS (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 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 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 FCFS cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 30.50%), the computed maximum profit is $357.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$20,641.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a FCFS cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the FCFS cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $206.43 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 cash-secured put on FCFS?
- Cash-secured puts on FCFS earn premium while a trader waits to acquire FCFS stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning FCFS.
- How does current FCFS implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- 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.