GILD Cash-Secured Put Strategy
GILD (Gilead Sciences, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Drug Manufacturers - General industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Gilead Sciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes medicines in the areas of unmet medical need in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company provides Biktarvy, Genvoya, Descovy, Odefsey, Truvada, Complera/ Eviplera, Stribild, and Atripla products for the treatment of HIV/AIDS; Veklury, an injection for intravenous use, for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019; and Epclusa, Harvoni, Vosevi, Vemlidy, and Viread for the treatment of liver diseases. It also offers Yescarta, Tecartus, Trodelvy, and Zydelig products for the treatment of hematology, oncology, and cell therapy patients. In addition, the company provides Letairis, an oral formulation for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension; Ranexa, an oral formulation for the treatment of chronic angina; and AmBisome, a liposomal formulation for the treatment of serious invasive fungal infections. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has collaboration agreements with Arcus Biosciences, Inc.; Pionyr Immunotherapeutics Inc.; Tizona Therapeutics, Inc.; Tango Therapeutics, Inc.; Jounce Therapeutics, Inc.; Galapagos NV; Janssen Sciences Ireland Unlimited Company; Japan Tobacco, Inc.; Gadeta B.V.; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Dragonfly Therapeutics, Inc.; and Merck & Co, Inc. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Foster City, California.
GILD (Gilead Sciences, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Drug Manufacturers - General, with a market capitalization of approximately $165.19B, a trailing P/E of 17.93, a beta of 0.33 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 97.86-157.29, average daily share volume of 6.2M, a public-listing history dating back to 1992, approximately 18K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how GILD stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.33 indicates GILD has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. GILD 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 GILD?
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 GILD snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $129.79, ATM IV 27.45%, IV rank 26.50%, expected move 7.87%. The cash-secured put on GILD 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 28-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on GILD specifically: GILD IV at 27.45% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling GILD cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 7.87% (roughly $10.21 on the underlying). The 28-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated GILD expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on GILD should anchor to the underlying notional of $129.79 per share and to the trader's directional view on GILD stock.
GILD cash-secured put setup
The GILD 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 GILD near $129.79, the first option leg uses a $123.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed GILD chain at a 28-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 GILD shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $123.00 | $1.47 |
GILD cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$146.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $146.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$12,152.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $121.54
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.012
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
GILD cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on GILD. 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% | -$12,152.50 |
| $28.71 | -77.9% | -$9,282.88 |
| $57.40 | -55.8% | -$6,413.26 |
| $86.10 | -33.7% | -$3,543.65 |
| $114.79 | -11.6% | -$674.03 |
| $143.49 | +10.6% | +$146.50 |
| $172.19 | +32.7% | +$146.50 |
| $200.88 | +54.8% | +$146.50 |
| $229.58 | +76.9% | +$146.50 |
| $258.28 | +99.0% | +$146.50 |
When traders use cash-secured put on GILD
Cash-secured puts on GILD earn premium while a trader waits to acquire GILD stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning GILD.
GILD thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for GILD extends from approximately $119.58 on the downside to $140.00 on the upside. A GILD cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire GILD 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 GILD IV rank near 26.50% 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 GILD at 27.45%. As a Healthcare name, GILD options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to GILD-specific events.
GILD 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. GILD positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move GILD alongside the broader basket even when GILD-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on GILD carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical GILD earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current GILD chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on GILD?
- A cash-secured put on GILD is the cash-secured put strategy applied to GILD (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 GILD stock trading near $129.79, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed GILD chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are GILD 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 GILD cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 27.45%), the computed maximum profit is $146.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$12,152.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a GILD cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the GILD cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $121.54 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 GILD market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 7.87%; 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 GILD?
- Cash-secured puts on GILD earn premium while a trader waits to acquire GILD stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning GILD.
- How does current GILD implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- GILD ATM IV is at 27.45% with IV rank near 26.50%, 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.