IMO Bear Put Spread Strategy
IMO (Imperial Oil Limited), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Integrated industry), listed on AMEX.
Imperial Oil Limited engages in exploration, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream and Chemical segments. The Upstream segment explores for, and produces crude oil, natural gas, synthetic oil, and bitumen. As of December 31, 2021, this segment had 386 million oil-equivalent barrels of proved undeveloped reserves. The Downstream segment is involved in the transportation and refining of crude oil, blending of refined products and the distribution, and marketing of refined products. It also transports crude oil to refineries by contracted pipelines, common carrier pipelines, and rail; maintains a distribution system to move petroleum products to market by pipeline, tanker, rail, and road transport; and owns and operates fuel terminals, natural gas liquids, and products pipelines in Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario.
IMO (Imperial Oil Limited) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Integrated, with a market capitalization of approximately $65.47B, a trailing P/E of 29.92, a beta of 0.85 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 70.29-134.31, average daily share volume of 725K, a public-listing history dating back to 1980, approximately 5K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how IMO stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.85 places IMO roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. IMO pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a bear put spread on IMO?
A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width.
Current IMO snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $134.34, ATM IV 35.00%, IV rank 61.14%, expected move 10.03%. The bear put spread on IMO 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 bear put spread structure on IMO specifically: IMO IV at 35.00% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so strategy selection should anchor more to the directional thesis than to the IV regime, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 10.03% (roughly $13.48 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 IMO expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on IMO should anchor to the underlying notional of $134.34 per share and to the trader's directional view on IMO stock.
IMO bear put spread setup
The IMO bear put spread below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With IMO near $134.34, 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 IMO 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 IMO shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $135.00 | $6.00 |
| Sell 1 | Put | $130.00 | $3.90 |
IMO bear put spread risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$210.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $290.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$210.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $132.90
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.381
Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit.
IMO bear put spread payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bear put spread on IMO. 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% | +$290.00 |
| $29.71 | -77.9% | +$290.00 |
| $59.41 | -55.8% | +$290.00 |
| $89.12 | -33.7% | +$290.00 |
| $118.82 | -11.6% | +$290.00 |
| $148.52 | +10.6% | -$210.00 |
| $178.22 | +32.7% | -$210.00 |
| $207.93 | +54.8% | -$210.00 |
| $237.63 | +76.9% | -$210.00 |
| $267.33 | +99.0% | -$210.00 |
When traders use bear put spread on IMO
Bear put spreads on IMO reduce the cost of a bearish IMO stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
IMO thesis for this bear put spread
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for IMO extends from approximately $120.86 on the downside to $147.82 on the upside. A IMO bear put spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bearish position; relative to an outright long put on IMO, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current IMO IV rank near 61.14% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the bear put spread thesis on IMO should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Energy name, IMO options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to IMO-specific events.
IMO bear put spread positions are structurally moderately bearish; 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. IMO positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move IMO alongside the broader basket even when IMO-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bear put spread on IMO are particularly exposed to IV-crush risk through scheduled events (earnings, FDA decisions, central-bank meetings) where IV typically contracts post-event regardless of the directional outcome. Always rebuild the position from current IMO chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a bear put spread on IMO?
- A bear put spread on IMO is the bear put spread strategy applied to IMO (stock). The strategy is structurally moderately bearish: A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width. With IMO stock trading near $134.34, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed IMO chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are IMO bear put spread max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit. For the IMO bear put spread priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 35.00%), the computed maximum profit is $290.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$210.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a IMO bear put spread?
- The breakeven for the IMO bear put spread priced on this page is roughly $132.90 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 IMO market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 10.03%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a bear put spread on IMO?
- Bear put spreads on IMO reduce the cost of a bearish IMO stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
- How does current IMO implied volatility affect this bear put spread?
- IMO ATM IV is at 35.00% with IV rank near 61.14%, 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.