KOS Cash-Secured Put Strategy
KOS (Kosmos Energy Ltd.), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Exploration & Production industry), listed on NYSE.
Kosmos Energy Ltd., a deep-water independent oil and gas exploration and production company, focuses along the Atlantic Margins. The company's primary assets include production offshore Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, as well as a gas development offshore Mauritania and Senegal. It also maintains a proven basin exploration program. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
KOS (Kosmos Energy Ltd.) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Exploration & Production, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.45B, a beta of 0.72 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 0.84-3.32, average daily share volume of 26.8M, a public-listing history dating back to 2011, approximately 243 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how KOS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.72 places KOS 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 KOS?
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 KOS snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $3.24, ATM IV 83.80%, IV rank 32.00%, expected move 24.02%. The cash-secured put on KOS 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 KOS specifically: KOS IV at 83.80% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a KOS cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 24.02% (roughly $0.78 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 KOS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on KOS should anchor to the underlying notional of $3.24 per share and to the trader's directional view on KOS stock.
KOS cash-secured put setup
The KOS 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 KOS near $3.24, the first option leg uses a $3.08 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed KOS 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 KOS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $3.08 | N/A |
KOS cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- N/A
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Breakeven(s)
- None on modeled curve
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- N/A
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
KOS cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on KOS. 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.
When traders use cash-secured put on KOS
Cash-secured puts on KOS earn premium while a trader waits to acquire KOS stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning KOS.
KOS thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for KOS extends from approximately $2.46 on the downside to $4.02 on the upside. A KOS cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire KOS 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 KOS IV rank near 32.00% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put thesis on KOS should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Energy name, KOS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to KOS-specific events.
KOS 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. KOS positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move KOS alongside the broader basket even when KOS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on KOS carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical KOS earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current KOS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on KOS?
- A cash-secured put on KOS is the cash-secured put strategy applied to KOS (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 KOS stock trading near $3.24, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed KOS chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are KOS 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 KOS cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 83.80%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is unbounded per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a KOS cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the KOS cash-secured put priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve 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 KOS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 24.02%; 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 KOS?
- Cash-secured puts on KOS earn premium while a trader waits to acquire KOS stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning KOS.
- How does current KOS implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- KOS ATM IV is at 83.80% with IV rank near 32.00%, 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.