KEX Cash-Secured Put Strategy
KEX (Kirby Corporation), in the Industrials sector, (Marine Shipping industry), listed on NYSE.
Kirby Corporation operates domestic tank barges in the United States. Its Marine Transportation segment provides marine transportation service and towing vessel transporting bulk liquid product, as well as operates tank barge throughout the Mississippi River System, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, coastwise along three United States coasts, and in Alaska and Hawaii. It also transport petrochemical, black oil, refined petroleum product, and agricultural chemicals by tank barge; and operates offshore dry-bulk barge and tugboat unit that are engaged in the offshore transportation of dry-bulk cargo in the United States coastal trade. As of December 31, 2021, it owned and operated 1,025 inland tank barge, approximately 255 inland towboat, 31 coastal tank barge, 29 coastal tugboat, 4 offshore dry-bulk cargo barge, 4 offshore tugboat, and 1 docking tugboat. Its Distribution and Services segment sells after-market service and genuine replacement part for engine, transmission, reduction gear, electric motor, drive, and control, electrical distribution and control system, energy storage battery system, and related oilfield service equipment; rebuild component parts or diesel engine, transmission and reduction gear, and related equipment used in oilfield service, marine, power generation, on-highway, and other industrial applications; rents generator, industrial compressor, high capacity lift truck, and refrigeration trailer; and manufactures and remanufactures oilfield service equipment, including pressure pumping unit, as well as manufacturers electric power generation equipment, specialized electrical distribution and control equipment, and high capacity energy storage/battery systems for oilfield customer. It serves to various companies and the United States government.
KEX (Kirby Corporation) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Marine Shipping, with a market capitalization of approximately $7.85B, a trailing P/E of 21.88, a beta of 0.86 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 79.52-157.69, average daily share volume of 708K, a public-listing history dating back to 1980, approximately 5K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how KEX stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.86 places KEX roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a cash-secured put on KEX?
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 KEX snapshot
As of May 13, 2026, spot at $146.47, ATM IV 31.00%, IV rank 35.05%, expected move 8.89%. The cash-secured put on KEX 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 KEX specifically: KEX IV at 31.00% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a KEX cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 8.89% (roughly $13.02 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 KEX expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on KEX should anchor to the underlying notional of $146.47 per share and to the trader's directional view on KEX stock.
KEX cash-secured put setup
The KEX 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 KEX near $146.47, the first option leg uses a $140.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed KEX 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 KEX shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $140.00 | $2.95 |
KEX cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$295.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $295.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$13,704.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $137.05
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.022
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
KEX cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on KEX. 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% | -$13,704.00 |
| $32.39 | -77.9% | -$10,465.58 |
| $64.78 | -55.8% | -$7,227.16 |
| $97.16 | -33.7% | -$3,988.73 |
| $129.55 | -11.6% | -$750.31 |
| $161.93 | +10.6% | +$295.00 |
| $194.32 | +32.7% | +$295.00 |
| $226.70 | +54.8% | +$295.00 |
| $259.08 | +76.9% | +$295.00 |
| $291.47 | +99.0% | +$295.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on KEX
Cash-secured puts on KEX earn premium while a trader waits to acquire KEX stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning KEX.
KEX thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for KEX extends from approximately $133.45 on the downside to $159.49 on the upside. A KEX cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire KEX 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 KEX IV rank near 35.05% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put thesis on KEX should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Industrials name, KEX options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to KEX-specific events.
KEX 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. KEX positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move KEX alongside the broader basket even when KEX-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on KEX carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical KEX earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current KEX chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on KEX?
- A cash-secured put on KEX is the cash-secured put strategy applied to KEX (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 KEX stock trading near $146.47, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed KEX chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are KEX 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 KEX cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 31.00%), the computed maximum profit is $295.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$13,704.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a KEX cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the KEX cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $137.05 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 KEX market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 8.89%; 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 KEX?
- Cash-secured puts on KEX earn premium while a trader waits to acquire KEX stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning KEX.
- How does current KEX implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- KEX ATM IV is at 31.00% with IV rank near 35.05%, 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.