IMO Cash-Secured Put 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 cash-secured put on IMO?
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 IMO snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $134.34, ATM IV 35.00%, IV rank 61.14%, expected move 10.03%. The cash-secured put 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 cash-secured put structure on IMO specifically: IMO IV at 35.00% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a IMO cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, 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 cash-secured put setup
The IMO 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 IMO near $134.34, the first option leg uses a $130.00 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $130.00 | $3.90 |
IMO cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$390.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $390.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$12,609.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $126.10
- 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.
IMO cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put 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% | -$12,609.00 |
| $29.71 | -77.9% | -$9,638.78 |
| $59.41 | -55.8% | -$6,668.56 |
| $89.12 | -33.7% | -$3,698.34 |
| $118.82 | -11.6% | -$728.12 |
| $148.52 | +10.6% | +$390.00 |
| $178.22 | +32.7% | +$390.00 |
| $207.93 | +54.8% | +$390.00 |
| $237.63 | +76.9% | +$390.00 |
| $267.33 | +99.0% | +$390.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on IMO
Cash-secured puts on IMO earn premium while a trader waits to acquire IMO stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning IMO.
IMO thesis for this cash-secured put
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 cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire IMO 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 IMO IV rank near 61.14% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put 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 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. 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. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on IMO carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical IMO earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current IMO chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on IMO?
- A cash-secured put on IMO is the cash-secured put strategy applied to IMO (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 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 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 IMO cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 35.00%), the computed maximum profit is $390.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$12,609.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a IMO cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the IMO cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $126.10 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 cash-secured put on IMO?
- Cash-secured puts on IMO earn premium while a trader waits to acquire IMO stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning IMO.
- How does current IMO implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- 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.