LAC Cash-Secured Put Strategy
LAC (Lithium Americas Corp.), in the Basic Materials sector, (Industrial Materials industry), listed on NYSE.
Lithium Americas Corp. operates as a resource company in the United States and Argentina. The company explores for lithium deposits. It owns interests in the Cauchari-Olaroz project located in Jujuy province of Argentina; Thacker Pass project located in north-western Nevada; and Pastos Grandes project located in the Salta province of Argentina. The company was formerly known as Western Lithium USA Corporation and changed its name to Lithium Americas Corp. in March 2016. Lithium Americas Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.
LAC (Lithium Americas Corp.) trades in the Basic Materials sector, specifically Industrial Materials, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.22B, a beta of 3.27 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 2.47-10.52, average daily share volume of 9.4M, a public-listing history dating back to 2008, approximately 749 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how LAC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 3.27 indicates LAC has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position.
What is a cash-secured put on LAC?
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 LAC snapshot
As of May 13, 2026, spot at $5.49, ATM IV 91.30%, IV rank 28.38%, expected move 26.17%. The cash-secured put on LAC 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 28-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on LAC specifically: LAC IV at 91.30% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling LAC cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 26.17% (roughly $1.44 on the underlying). The 28-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated LAC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on LAC should anchor to the underlying notional of $5.49 per share and to the trader's directional view on LAC stock.
LAC cash-secured put setup
The LAC 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 LAC near $5.49, the first option leg uses a $5.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed LAC chain at a 28-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 LAC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $5.00 | $0.42 |
LAC cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$42.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $42.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$457.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $4.58
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.092
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
LAC cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on LAC. 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 | -99.8% | -$457.00 |
| $1.22 | -77.7% | -$335.72 |
| $2.44 | -55.6% | -$214.45 |
| $3.65 | -33.5% | -$93.17 |
| $4.86 | -11.5% | +$28.11 |
| $6.07 | +10.6% | +$42.00 |
| $7.29 | +32.7% | +$42.00 |
| $8.50 | +54.8% | +$42.00 |
| $9.71 | +76.9% | +$42.00 |
| $10.92 | +99.0% | +$42.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on LAC
Cash-secured puts on LAC earn premium while a trader waits to acquire LAC stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning LAC.
LAC thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for LAC extends from approximately $4.05 on the downside to $6.93 on the upside. A LAC cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire LAC 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 LAC IV rank near 28.38% sits in the lower third of its 1-year distribution, where IV often re-expands toward the mean; this favors premium-buying structures and disadvantages premium-selling structures on LAC at 91.30%. As a Basic Materials name, LAC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to LAC-specific events.
LAC 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. LAC positions also carry Basic Materials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move LAC alongside the broader basket even when LAC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on LAC carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical LAC earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current LAC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on LAC?
- A cash-secured put on LAC is the cash-secured put strategy applied to LAC (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 LAC stock trading near $5.49, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed LAC chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are LAC 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 LAC cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 91.30%), the computed maximum profit is $42.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$457.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a LAC cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the LAC cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $4.58 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 LAC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 26.17%; 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 LAC?
- Cash-secured puts on LAC earn premium while a trader waits to acquire LAC stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning LAC.
- How does current LAC implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- LAC ATM IV is at 91.30% with IV rank near 28.38%, which is on the low end of its 1-year range. Premium-buying structures (long call, long put, debit spreads) are relatively cheap in this regime; premium-selling structures collect less credit per unit risk.