MPC Collar 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 $101.67B, a trailing P/E of 11.85, a beta of 0.51 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 158-348.32, average daily share volume of 2.3M, a public-listing history dating back to 2011, approximately 19K 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 0.51 indicates MPC has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. The trailing P/E of 11.85 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. MPC pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a collar on MPC?
A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot.
MPC snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $355.47, ATM IV 39.80%, IV rank 60.17%, expected move 11.41%. The collar on MPC below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 35-day expiry.
Why this collar structure on MPC specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; mid-range MPC IV at 39.80% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 11.41% (roughly $40.56 on the underlying). The 35-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 $355.47 per share and to the trader's directional view on MPC stock.
MPC collar setup
The MPC collar below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With MPC at $355.47 on that close, the first option leg uses a $370.00 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 35-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).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $355.47 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $370.00 | $11.50 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $340.00 | $10.30 |
MPC collar risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$35,427.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $1,573.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$1,427.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $354.27
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.102
Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium.
MPC collar payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar 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.
| Underlying Price | % From Spot | P&L at Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| $0.01 | -100.0% | -$1,427.00 |
| $78.61 | -77.9% | -$1,427.00 |
| $157.20 | -55.8% | -$1,427.00 |
| $235.80 | -33.7% | -$1,427.00 |
| $314.39 | -11.6% | -$1,427.00 |
| $392.99 | +10.6% | +$1,573.00 |
| $471.58 | +32.7% | +$1,573.00 |
| $550.18 | +54.8% | +$1,573.00 |
| $628.77 | +76.9% | +$1,573.00 |
| $707.37 | +99.0% | +$1,573.00 |
When traders use collar on MPC
Collars on MPC hedge an existing long MPC stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
MPC thesis for this collar
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for MPC extends from approximately $314.91 on the downside to $396.03 on the upside. A MPC collar hedges an existing long MPC position with a protective put while financing the put cost via a short call; when the premiums roughly offset, the collar acts as a near-zero-cost insurance band around the current spot. Current MPC IV rank near 60.17% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the collar 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 collar positions are structurally neutral (protective); 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. Always rebuild the position from current MPC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a collar on MPC?
- A collar on MPC is the collar strategy applied to MPC (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral (protective): A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot. With MPC stock at $355.47 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed MPC chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are MPC collar max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium. For the MPC collar priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 39.80%), the computed maximum profit is $1,573.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$1,427.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a MPC collar?
- The breakeven for the MPC collar priced on this page is roughly $354.27 at expiration, derived from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain's premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The MPC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 11.41%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a collar on MPC?
- Collars on MPC hedge an existing long MPC stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
- How does current MPC implied volatility affect this collar?
- MPC ATM IV is at 39.80% with IV rank near 60.17%, 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.