MOH Cash-Secured Put Strategy
MOH (Molina Healthcare, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Healthcare Plans industry), listed on NYSE.
Molina Healthcare, Inc. provides managed health care services to low-income families and individuals under the Medicaid and Medicare programs and through the state insurance marketplaces. It operates in four segments, Medicaid, Medicare, Marketplace, and Other. As of December 31, 2021, the company served the company served approximately 5.2 million members eligible for Medicaid, Medicare, and other government-sponsored healthcare programs in 18 states. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Long Beach, California.
MOH (Molina Healthcare, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Healthcare Plans, with a market capitalization of approximately $10.00B, a trailing P/E of 52.08, a beta of 0.85 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 121.06-327.68, average daily share volume of 1.6M, a public-listing history dating back to 2003, approximately 18K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how MOH stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.85 places MOH roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 52.08 is on the rich side, which tends to correlate with higher earnings-window IV expansion as the market debates whether forward growth supports the multiple.
What is a cash-secured put on MOH?
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 MOH snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $184.94, ATM IV 42.20%, IV rank 26.75%, expected move 12.10%. The cash-secured put on MOH 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 MOH specifically: MOH IV at 42.20% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling MOH cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 12.10% (roughly $22.37 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 MOH expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on MOH should anchor to the underlying notional of $184.94 per share and to the trader's directional view on MOH stock.
MOH cash-secured put setup
The MOH 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 MOH near $184.94, the first option leg uses a $175.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed MOH 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 MOH shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $175.00 | $5.35 |
MOH cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$535.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $535.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$16,964.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $169.65
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.032
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
MOH cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on MOH. 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% | -$16,964.00 |
| $40.90 | -77.9% | -$12,874.98 |
| $81.79 | -55.8% | -$8,785.97 |
| $122.68 | -33.7% | -$4,696.95 |
| $163.57 | -11.6% | -$607.94 |
| $204.46 | +10.6% | +$535.00 |
| $245.35 | +32.7% | +$535.00 |
| $286.24 | +54.8% | +$535.00 |
| $327.13 | +76.9% | +$535.00 |
| $368.02 | +99.0% | +$535.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on MOH
Cash-secured puts on MOH earn premium while a trader waits to acquire MOH stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning MOH.
MOH thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for MOH extends from approximately $162.57 on the downside to $207.31 on the upside. A MOH cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire MOH 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 MOH IV rank near 26.75% 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 MOH at 42.20%. As a Healthcare name, MOH options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to MOH-specific events.
MOH 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. MOH positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move MOH alongside the broader basket even when MOH-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on MOH carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical MOH earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current MOH chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on MOH?
- A cash-secured put on MOH is the cash-secured put strategy applied to MOH (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 MOH stock trading near $184.94, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed MOH chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are MOH 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 MOH cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 42.20%), the computed maximum profit is $535.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$16,964.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a MOH cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the MOH cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $169.65 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 MOH market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 12.10%; 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 MOH?
- Cash-secured puts on MOH earn premium while a trader waits to acquire MOH stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning MOH.
- How does current MOH implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- MOH ATM IV is at 42.20% with IV rank near 26.75%, 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.