MUSA Bear Put Spread Strategy
MUSA (Murphy USA Inc.), in the Consumer Cyclical sector, (Specialty Retail industry), listed on NYSE.
Murphy USA Inc. engages in marketing of retail motor fuel products and convenience merchandise. The company operates retail stores under the Murphy USA, Murphy Express, and QuickChek brands. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 1,679 retail gasoline stores principally in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest United States. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas.
MUSA (Murphy USA Inc.) trades in the Consumer Cyclical sector, specifically Specialty Retail, with a market capitalization of approximately $10.87B, a trailing P/E of 19.69, a beta of 0.36 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 345.23-609.82, average daily share volume of 363K, a public-listing history dating back to 2013, approximately 6K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how MUSA stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.36 indicates MUSA has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. MUSA 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 MUSA?
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 MUSA snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $565.63, ATM IV 37.20%, IV rank 43.60%, expected move 10.66%. The bear put spread on MUSA 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 bear put spread structure on MUSA specifically: MUSA IV at 37.20% 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 10.66% (roughly $60.32 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 MUSA expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on MUSA should anchor to the underlying notional of $565.63 per share and to the trader's directional view on MUSA stock.
MUSA bear put spread setup
The MUSA 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 MUSA near $565.63, the first option leg uses a $570.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed MUSA 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 MUSA shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $570.00 | $28.75 |
| Sell 1 | Put | $540.00 | $15.15 |
MUSA bear put spread risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$1,360.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $1,640.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$1,360.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $556.40
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.206
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.
MUSA bear put spread payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bear put spread on MUSA. 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% | +$1,640.00 |
| $125.07 | -77.9% | +$1,640.00 |
| $250.14 | -55.8% | +$1,640.00 |
| $375.20 | -33.7% | +$1,640.00 |
| $500.26 | -11.6% | +$1,640.00 |
| $625.32 | +10.6% | -$1,360.00 |
| $750.39 | +32.7% | -$1,360.00 |
| $875.45 | +54.8% | -$1,360.00 |
| $1,000.51 | +76.9% | -$1,360.00 |
| $1,125.58 | +99.0% | -$1,360.00 |
When traders use bear put spread on MUSA
Bear put spreads on MUSA reduce the cost of a bearish MUSA stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
MUSA thesis for this bear put spread
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for MUSA extends from approximately $505.31 on the downside to $625.95 on the upside. A MUSA bear put spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bearish position; relative to an outright long put on MUSA, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current MUSA IV rank near 43.60% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the bear put spread thesis on MUSA should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Consumer Cyclical name, MUSA options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to MUSA-specific events.
MUSA 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. MUSA positions also carry Consumer Cyclical sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move MUSA alongside the broader basket even when MUSA-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bear put spread on MUSA 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 MUSA chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a bear put spread on MUSA?
- A bear put spread on MUSA is the bear put spread strategy applied to MUSA (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 MUSA stock trading near $565.63, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed MUSA chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are MUSA 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 MUSA bear put spread priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 37.20%), the computed maximum profit is $1,640.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$1,360.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a MUSA bear put spread?
- The breakeven for the MUSA bear put spread priced on this page is roughly $556.40 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 MUSA market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 10.66%; 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 MUSA?
- Bear put spreads on MUSA reduce the cost of a bearish MUSA 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 MUSA implied volatility affect this bear put spread?
- MUSA ATM IV is at 37.20% with IV rank near 43.60%, 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.