HTO Cash-Secured Put Strategy
HTO (H2O America), in the Utilities sector, (Regulated Water industry), listed on NASDAQ.
H2O America, through its subsidiaries, provides water utility and other related services in the United States. The company engages in the production, purchase, storage, purification, distribution, wholesale, and retail sale of water and wastewater services; and supplies groundwater from wells, surface water from watershed run-off and diversion, reclaimed water, and imported water purchased from Santa Clara Valley Water District. It also offers non-tariffed services, including water system operations, maintenance agreements, and antenna site leases; contracted services, sewer operations, and other water related services; and a Linebacker protection plan for public drinking water customers in Connecticut and Maine. In addition, the company provides water services to approximately 232,000 connections that serve approximately one million people residing in portions of the cities of San Jose and Cupertino and in the cities of Campbell, Monte Sereno, Saratoga and the Town of Los Gatos, and adjacent unincorporated territories in the County of Santa Clara in the State of California; water service to approximately 142,000 service connections, which serve a population of approximately 463,000 people in 81 municipalities with a service area of approximately 275 square miles in Connecticut and Maine and approximately 3,000 wastewater connections in Southbury, Connecticut; approximately 29,000 service connections that serve approximately 88,000 people in a service area comprising more than 271 square miles in the region between San Antonio and Austin, Texas and approximately 1,000 wastewater connections. Further, it owns undeveloped land in California; and commercial properties and parcels of land in Connecticut. The company was formerly known as SJW Group and changed its name to H2O America in May 2025.
HTO (H2O America) trades in the Utilities sector, specifically Regulated Water, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.98B, a trailing P/E of 20.41, a beta of 0.34 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 43.75-61.87, average daily share volume of 633K, a public-listing history dating back to 1972, approximately 822 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how HTO stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.34 indicates HTO has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. HTO 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 HTO?
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 HTO snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $55.17, ATM IV 25.20%, IV rank 4.47%, expected move 7.22%. The cash-secured put on HTO 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 HTO specifically: HTO IV at 25.20% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling HTO cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 7.22% (roughly $3.99 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 HTO expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on HTO should anchor to the underlying notional of $55.17 per share and to the trader's directional view on HTO stock.
HTO cash-secured put setup
The HTO 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 HTO near $55.17, the first option leg uses a $52.41 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed HTO 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 HTO shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $52.41 | N/A |
HTO cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- N/A
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Breakeven(s)
- None on modeled curve
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- N/A
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
HTO cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on HTO. 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.
When traders use cash-secured put on HTO
Cash-secured puts on HTO earn premium while a trader waits to acquire HTO stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning HTO.
HTO thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for HTO extends from approximately $51.18 on the downside to $59.16 on the upside. A HTO cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire HTO 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 HTO IV rank near 4.47% 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 HTO at 25.20%. As a Utilities name, HTO options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to HTO-specific events.
HTO 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. HTO positions also carry Utilities sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move HTO alongside the broader basket even when HTO-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on HTO carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical HTO earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current HTO chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on HTO?
- A cash-secured put on HTO is the cash-secured put strategy applied to HTO (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 HTO stock trading near $55.17, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed HTO chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are HTO 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 HTO cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 25.20%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is unbounded per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a HTO cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the HTO cash-secured put priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve 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 HTO market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 7.22%; 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 HTO?
- Cash-secured puts on HTO earn premium while a trader waits to acquire HTO stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning HTO.
- How does current HTO implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- HTO ATM IV is at 25.20% with IV rank near 4.47%, 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.