MPC Bear Put Spread Strategy

MPC (Marathon Petroleum Corporation), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing industry), listed on NYSE.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) functions as a prominent integrated energy enterprise, primarily concentrating its downstream operations across the United States. Its business is bifurcated into two main divisions: Refining & Marketing, and Midstream. The Refining & Marketing segment is responsible for processing crude oil and various other raw materials at its refineries, strategically located in the U.S. Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent, and West Coast regions. This division also acquires refined petroleum products and ethanol for subsequent distribution. Key outputs from this segment encompass a diverse array of transportation fuels, including different gasoline blends, heavy fuel oil, and asphalt.

MPC (Marathon Petroleum Corporation) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing, with a market capitalization of approximately $74.17B, a trailing P/E of 16.18, a beta of 0.52 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 158-272.46, average daily share volume of 2.4M, a public-listing history dating back to 2011, approximately 18K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how MPC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.

A beta of 0.52 indicates MPC has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. MPC pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.

What is a bear put spread on MPC?

A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width.

Current MPC snapshot

As of June 29, 2026, spot at $260.23, ATM IV 35.00%, IV rank 40.08%, expected move 10.03%. The bear put spread on MPC 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 18-day expiry.

Why this bear put spread structure on MPC specifically: MPC IV at 35.00% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so strategy selection should anchor more to the directional thesis than to the IV regime, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 10.03% (roughly $26.11 on the underlying). The 18-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated MPC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on MPC should anchor to the underlying notional of $260.23 per share and to the trader's directional view on MPC stock.

MPC bear put spread setup

The MPC bear put spread below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With MPC near $260.23, the first option leg uses a $260.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed MPC chain at a 18-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 MPC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).

ActionTypeStrike / BasisPremium (est)
Buy 1Put$260.00$7.20
Sell 1Put$250.00$3.95

MPC bear put spread risk and reward

Net Premium / Debit
-$325.00
Max Profit (per contract)
$675.00
Max Loss (per contract)
-$325.00
Breakeven(s)
$256.75
Risk / Reward Ratio
2.077

Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit.

MPC bear put spread payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bear put spread on MPC. 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.

MPC bear put spread profit and loss curve at expiration with breakevens and current spot markedMPC bear put spread payoff at expiration-$200$0$200$400$600$100$200$300$400$500Underlying Price ($)P&L at Expiration ($)BE $256.75Spot $260.23
P&L at expiration across the modeled underlying-price range. Green shading marks profitable regions, red shading marks loss regions. Dotted purple verticals mark breakevens; the solid dark vertical marks current spot.
Underlying Price% From SpotP&L at Expiration
$0.01-100.0%+$675.00
$57.55-77.9%+$675.00
$115.08-55.8%+$675.00
$172.62-33.7%+$675.00
$230.16-11.6%+$675.00
$287.70+10.6%-$325.00
$345.23+32.7%-$325.00
$402.77+54.8%-$325.00
$460.31+76.9%-$325.00
$517.84+99.0%-$325.00

When traders use bear put spread on MPC

Bear put spreads on MPC reduce the cost of a bearish MPC stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.

MPC thesis for this bear put spread

The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for MPC extends from approximately $234.12 on the downside to $286.34 on the upside. A MPC bear put spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bearish position; relative to an outright long put on MPC, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current MPC IV rank near 40.08% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the bear put spread thesis on MPC should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Energy name, MPC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to MPC-specific events.

MPC bear put spread positions are structurally moderately bearish; 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. MPC positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move MPC alongside the broader basket even when MPC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bear put spread on MPC are particularly exposed to IV-crush risk through scheduled events (earnings, FDA decisions, central-bank meetings) where IV typically contracts post-event regardless of the directional outcome. Always rebuild the position from current MPC chain quotes before placing a trade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a bear put spread on MPC?
A bear put spread on MPC is the bear put spread strategy applied to MPC (stock). The strategy is structurally moderately bearish: A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width. With MPC stock trading near $260.23, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed MPC chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
How are MPC bear put spread max profit and max loss calculated?
Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit. For the MPC bear put spread priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 35.00%), the computed maximum profit is $675.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$325.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
What is the breakeven for a MPC bear put spread?
The breakeven for the MPC bear put spread priced on this page is roughly $256.75 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 MPC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 10.03%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
When should you consider a bear put spread on MPC?
Bear put spreads on MPC reduce the cost of a bearish MPC stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
How does current MPC implied volatility affect this bear put spread?
MPC ATM IV is at 35.00% with IV rank near 40.08%, 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.

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