HCA Cash-Secured Put Strategy
HCA (HCA Healthcare, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Care Facilities industry), listed on NYSE.
HCA Healthcare, Inc., operating through its subsidiaries, delivers a comprehensive array of healthcare services throughout the United States. The organization manages a network of general and acute care hospitals that provide a full spectrum of medical and surgical care, encompassing inpatient services, intensive care, cardiac treatment, diagnostic procedures, and emergency services. These hospitals additionally offer a broad range of outpatient care, such as ambulatory surgery, laboratory testing, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology, and physical therapy. Beyond its hospital infrastructure, HCA Healthcare operates numerous specialized outpatient facilities. These include standalone ambulatory surgery centers, dedicated emergency care facilities, urgent care clinics, walk-in clinics, advanced diagnostic and imaging centers, rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, radiation and oncology treatment facilities, physician practices, and various other healthcare sites. Furthermore, the company oversees psychiatric hospitals, which offer diverse therapeutic programs.
HCA (HCA Healthcare, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Care Facilities, with a market capitalization of approximately $89.76B, a trailing P/E of 13.51, a beta of 1.11 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 353.99-556.52, average daily share volume of 1.5M, a public-listing history dating back to 2011, approximately 320K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how HCA stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.11 places HCA roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. HCA 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 HCA?
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.
HCA snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $404.88, ATM IV 28.40%, IV rank 17.77%, expected move 8.14%. The cash-secured put on HCA 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 cash-secured put structure on HCA specifically: HCA IV at 28.40% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling HCA cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 8.14% (roughly $32.97 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 HCA expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on HCA should anchor to the underlying notional of $404.88 per share and to the trader's directional view on HCA stock.
HCA cash-secured put setup
The HCA cash-secured 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 HCA at $404.88 on that close, the first option leg uses a $385.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed HCA 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 HCA shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $385.00 | $5.85 |
HCA cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$585.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $585.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$37,914.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $379.15
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.015
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
HCA cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on HCA. 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% | -$37,914.00 |
| $89.53 | -77.9% | -$28,961.99 |
| $179.05 | -55.8% | -$20,009.98 |
| $268.57 | -33.7% | -$11,057.97 |
| $358.09 | -11.6% | -$2,105.96 |
| $447.61 | +10.6% | +$585.00 |
| $537.13 | +32.7% | +$585.00 |
| $626.65 | +54.8% | +$585.00 |
| $716.17 | +76.9% | +$585.00 |
| $805.69 | +99.0% | +$585.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on HCA
Cash-secured puts on HCA earn premium while a trader waits to acquire HCA stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning HCA.
HCA thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for HCA extends from approximately $371.91 on the downside to $437.85 on the upside. A HCA cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire HCA 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 HCA IV rank near 17.77% 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 HCA at 28.40%. As a Healthcare name, HCA options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to HCA-specific events.
HCA 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. HCA positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move HCA alongside the broader basket even when HCA-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on HCA carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical HCA earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current HCA chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on HCA?
- A cash-secured put on HCA is the cash-secured put strategy applied to HCA (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 HCA stock at $404.88 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed HCA chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are HCA 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 HCA cash-secured put priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 28.40%), the computed maximum profit is $585.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$37,914.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a HCA cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the HCA cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $379.15 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 HCA market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 8.14%; 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 HCA?
- Cash-secured puts on HCA earn premium while a trader waits to acquire HCA stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning HCA.
- How does current HCA implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- HCA ATM IV is at 28.40% with IV rank near 17.77%, 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.