MTH Cash-Secured Put Strategy
MTH (Meritage Homes Corporation), in the Consumer Cyclical sector, (Residential Construction industry), listed on NYSE.
Meritage Homes Corporation, alongside its associated companies, focuses on the design and construction of single-family residences throughout the United States. The enterprise operates primarily through two distinct divisions: home construction and financial services. Its core business involves acquiring and developing land, followed by the building, marketing, and selling of homes, predominantly targeting first-time buyers and those seeking their initial upgrade. Furthermore, the company provides its homebuyers with crucial services such as title insurance and support for closing and settlement processes. Meritage Homes constructs and sells properties under its own brand name across a wide geographic footprint, including Texas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. The company was established in 1985 and has its corporate headquarters situated in Scottsdale, Arizona.
MTH (Meritage Homes Corporation) trades in the Consumer Cyclical sector, specifically Residential Construction, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.86B, a trailing P/E of 14.74, a beta of 1.36 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 58.03-85.38, average daily share volume of 925K, a public-listing history dating back to 1988, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how MTH stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.36 indicates MTH has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position. MTH 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 MTH?
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.
MTH snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $73.25, ATM IV 36.60%, IV rank 14.30%, expected move 10.49%. The cash-secured put on MTH 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 cash-secured put structure on MTH specifically: MTH IV at 36.60% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling MTH cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 10.49% (roughly $7.69 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 MTH expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on MTH should anchor to the underlying notional of $73.25 per share and to the trader's directional view on MTH stock.
MTH cash-secured put setup
The MTH cash-secured put 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 MTH at $73.25 on that close, the first option leg uses a $70.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed MTH 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 MTH shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $70.00 | $1.88 |
MTH cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$187.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $187.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$6,811.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $68.13
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.028
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
MTH cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on MTH. 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% | -$6,811.50 |
| $16.20 | -77.9% | -$5,192.01 |
| $32.40 | -55.8% | -$3,572.53 |
| $48.59 | -33.7% | -$1,953.04 |
| $64.79 | -11.6% | -$333.55 |
| $80.98 | +10.6% | +$187.50 |
| $97.18 | +32.7% | +$187.50 |
| $113.37 | +54.8% | +$187.50 |
| $129.57 | +76.9% | +$187.50 |
| $145.76 | +99.0% | +$187.50 |
When traders use cash-secured put on MTH
Cash-secured puts on MTH earn premium while a trader waits to acquire MTH stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning MTH.
MTH thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for MTH extends from approximately $65.56 on the downside to $80.94 on the upside. A MTH cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire MTH 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 MTH IV rank near 14.30% 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 MTH at 36.60%. As a Consumer Cyclical name, MTH options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to MTH-specific events.
MTH 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. MTH positions also carry Consumer Cyclical sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move MTH alongside the broader basket even when MTH-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on MTH carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical MTH earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current MTH chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on MTH?
- A cash-secured put on MTH is the cash-secured put strategy applied to MTH (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 MTH stock at $73.25 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed MTH chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are MTH 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 MTH cash-secured put priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 36.60%), the computed maximum profit is $187.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$6,811.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a MTH cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the MTH cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $68.13 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 MTH market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 10.49%; 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 MTH?
- Cash-secured puts on MTH earn premium while a trader waits to acquire MTH stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning MTH.
- How does current MTH implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- MTH ATM IV is at 36.60% with IV rank near 14.30%, 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.