IDA Cash-Secured Put Strategy
IDA (IDACORP, Inc.), in the Utilities sector, (Regulated Electric industry), listed on NYSE.
IDACORP, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, purchase, and sale of electric energy in the United States. The company operates 17 hydropower generating plants located in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon; three natural gas-fired plants in southern Idaho; and interests in two coal-fired steam electric generating plants located in Wyoming and Nevada. As of December 31, 2021, it had approximately 4,843 pole-miles of high-voltage transmission lines; 23 step-up transmission substations located at power plants; 21 transmission substations; 10 switching stations; 30 mixed-use transmission and distribution substations; 187 energized distribution substations; and 28,570 pole-miles of distribution lines, as well as provides electric utility services to approximately 604,000 retail customers in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. The company serves commercial and industrial customers, which involved in food processing, electronics and general manufacturing, agriculture, health care, government, and education. It also invests in housing and other real estate tax credit investments. IDACORP, Inc. was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Boise, Idaho.
IDA (IDACORP, Inc.) trades in the Utilities sector, specifically Regulated Electric, with a market capitalization of approximately $7.88B, a trailing P/E of 23.60, a beta of 0.52 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 111.12-149.73, average daily share volume of 493K, a public-listing history dating back to 1944, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how IDA stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.52 indicates IDA has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. IDA 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 IDA?
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 IDA snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $139.66, ATM IV 20.20%, IV rank 12.76%, expected move 5.79%. The cash-secured put on IDA 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 98-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on IDA specifically: IDA IV at 20.20% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling IDA cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 5.79% (roughly $8.09 on the underlying). The 98-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated IDA expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on IDA should anchor to the underlying notional of $139.66 per share and to the trader's directional view on IDA stock.
IDA cash-secured put setup
The IDA 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 IDA near $139.66, the first option leg uses a $135.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed IDA chain at a 98-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 IDA shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $135.00 | $4.03 |
IDA cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$402.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $402.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$13,096.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $130.98
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.031
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
IDA cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on IDA. 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% | -$13,096.50 |
| $30.89 | -77.9% | -$10,008.65 |
| $61.77 | -55.8% | -$6,920.80 |
| $92.65 | -33.7% | -$3,832.95 |
| $123.52 | -11.6% | -$745.10 |
| $154.40 | +10.6% | +$402.50 |
| $185.28 | +32.7% | +$402.50 |
| $216.16 | +54.8% | +$402.50 |
| $247.04 | +76.9% | +$402.50 |
| $277.92 | +99.0% | +$402.50 |
When traders use cash-secured put on IDA
Cash-secured puts on IDA earn premium while a trader waits to acquire IDA stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning IDA.
IDA thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for IDA extends from approximately $131.57 on the downside to $147.75 on the upside. A IDA cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire IDA 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 IDA IV rank near 12.76% 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 IDA at 20.20%. As a Utilities name, IDA options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to IDA-specific events.
IDA 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. IDA positions also carry Utilities sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move IDA alongside the broader basket even when IDA-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on IDA carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical IDA earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current IDA chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on IDA?
- A cash-secured put on IDA is the cash-secured put strategy applied to IDA (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 IDA stock trading near $139.66, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed IDA chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are IDA 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 IDA cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 20.20%), the computed maximum profit is $402.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$13,096.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a IDA cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the IDA cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $130.98 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 IDA market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 5.79%; 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 IDA?
- Cash-secured puts on IDA earn premium while a trader waits to acquire IDA stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning IDA.
- How does current IDA implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- IDA ATM IV is at 20.20% with IV rank near 12.76%, 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.