HUM Cash-Secured Put Strategy
HUM (Humana Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Healthcare Plans industry), listed on NYSE.
Humana Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a health and well-being company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail, Group and Specialty, and Healthcare Services. The company offers medical and supplemental benefit plans to individuals. It also has a contract with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to administer the Limited Income Newly Eligible Transition prescription drug plan program; and contracts with various states to provide Medicaid, dual eligible, and long-term support services benefits. In addition, the company provides commercial fully insured medical and specialty health insurance benefits comprising dental, vision, and other supplemental health benefits; and administrative services only products to individuals and employer groups, as well as military services, such as TRICARE T2017 East Region contract. Further, it offers pharmacy solutions, provider services, and home solutions services, such as home health and other services to its health plan members, as well as to third parties.
HUM (Humana Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Healthcare Plans, with a market capitalization of approximately $36.60B, a trailing P/E of 32.46, a beta of 0.68 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 163.11-315.35, average daily share volume of 1.8M, a public-listing history dating back to 1981, approximately 66K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how HUM stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.68 indicates HUM has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. HUM 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 HUM?
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 HUM snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $304.60, ATM IV 46.03%, IV rank 33.82%, expected move 13.20%. The cash-secured put on HUM 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 HUM specifically: HUM IV at 46.03% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a HUM cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 13.20% (roughly $40.19 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 HUM expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on HUM should anchor to the underlying notional of $304.60 per share and to the trader's directional view on HUM stock.
HUM cash-secured put setup
The HUM 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 HUM near $304.60, the first option leg uses a $290.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed HUM 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 HUM shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $290.00 | $9.05 |
HUM cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$905.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $905.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$28,094.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $280.95
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.032
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
HUM cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on HUM. 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% | -$28,094.00 |
| $67.36 | -77.9% | -$21,359.24 |
| $134.71 | -55.8% | -$14,624.47 |
| $202.05 | -33.7% | -$7,889.71 |
| $269.40 | -11.6% | -$1,154.94 |
| $336.75 | +10.6% | +$905.00 |
| $404.10 | +32.7% | +$905.00 |
| $471.44 | +54.8% | +$905.00 |
| $538.79 | +76.9% | +$905.00 |
| $606.14 | +99.0% | +$905.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on HUM
Cash-secured puts on HUM earn premium while a trader waits to acquire HUM stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning HUM.
HUM thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for HUM extends from approximately $264.41 on the downside to $344.79 on the upside. A HUM cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire HUM 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 HUM IV rank near 33.82% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put thesis on HUM should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Healthcare name, HUM options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to HUM-specific events.
HUM 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. HUM positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move HUM alongside the broader basket even when HUM-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on HUM carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical HUM earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current HUM chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on HUM?
- A cash-secured put on HUM is the cash-secured put strategy applied to HUM (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 HUM stock trading near $304.60, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed HUM chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are HUM 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 HUM cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 46.03%), the computed maximum profit is $905.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$28,094.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a HUM cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the HUM cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $280.95 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 HUM market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 13.20%; 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 HUM?
- Cash-secured puts on HUM earn premium while a trader waits to acquire HUM stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning HUM.
- How does current HUM implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- HUM ATM IV is at 46.03% with IV rank near 33.82%, 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.