KSS Cash-Secured Put Strategy
KSS (Kohl's Corporation), in the Consumer Cyclical sector, (Department Stores industry), listed on NYSE.
Kohl's Corporation operates as a retail company in the United States. It offers branded apparel, footwear, accessories, beauty, and home products through its stores and website. The company provides its products primarily under the brand names of Apt. 9, Croft & Barrow, Jumping Beans, SO, and Sonoma Goods for Life, as well as Food Network, LC Lauren Conrad, Nine West, and Simply Vera Vera Wang. As of March 21, 2022, it operated approximately 1,100 Kohl's stores and a website www.Kohls.com. Kohl's Corporation was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
KSS (Kohl's Corporation) trades in the Consumer Cyclical sector, specifically Department Stores, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.36B, a trailing P/E of 4.99, a beta of 1.49 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 7.47-25.22, average daily share volume of 4.9M, a public-listing history dating back to 1992, approximately 87K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how KSS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.49 indicates KSS has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position. The trailing P/E of 4.99 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. KSS 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 KSS?
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 KSS snapshot
As of May 14, 2026, spot at $12.02, ATM IV 86.25%, IV rank 32.73%, expected move 24.73%. The cash-secured put on KSS 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 KSS specifically: KSS IV at 86.25% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a KSS cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 24.73% (roughly $2.97 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 KSS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on KSS should anchor to the underlying notional of $12.02 per share and to the trader's directional view on KSS stock.
KSS cash-secured put setup
The KSS 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 KSS near $12.02, the first option leg uses a $11.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed KSS 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 KSS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $11.00 | $0.87 |
KSS cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$86.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $86.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$1,012.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $10.14
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.085
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
KSS cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on KSS. 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 | -99.9% | -$1,012.50 |
| $2.67 | -77.8% | -$746.84 |
| $5.32 | -55.7% | -$481.18 |
| $7.98 | -33.6% | -$215.53 |
| $10.64 | -11.5% | +$50.13 |
| $13.29 | +10.6% | +$86.50 |
| $15.95 | +32.7% | +$86.50 |
| $18.61 | +54.8% | +$86.50 |
| $21.26 | +76.9% | +$86.50 |
| $23.92 | +99.0% | +$86.50 |
When traders use cash-secured put on KSS
Cash-secured puts on KSS earn premium while a trader waits to acquire KSS stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning KSS.
KSS thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for KSS extends from approximately $9.05 on the downside to $14.99 on the upside. A KSS cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire KSS 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 KSS IV rank near 32.73% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put thesis on KSS should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Consumer Cyclical name, KSS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to KSS-specific events.
KSS 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. KSS positions also carry Consumer Cyclical sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move KSS alongside the broader basket even when KSS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on KSS carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical KSS earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current KSS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on KSS?
- A cash-secured put on KSS is the cash-secured put strategy applied to KSS (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 KSS stock trading near $12.02, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed KSS chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are KSS 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 KSS cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 86.25%), the computed maximum profit is $86.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$1,012.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a KSS cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the KSS cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $10.14 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 KSS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 24.73%; 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 KSS?
- Cash-secured puts on KSS earn premium while a trader waits to acquire KSS stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning KSS.
- How does current KSS implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- KSS ATM IV is at 86.25% with IV rank near 32.73%, 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.