MUX Cash-Secured Put Strategy
MUX (McEwen Mining Inc.), in the Basic Materials sector, (Other Precious Metals industry), listed on NYSE.
McEwen Mining Inc. (MUX) is primarily engaged in the discovery, development, extraction, and sale of gold and silver deposits across the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina. The company also conducts exploration for copper reserves. Its portfolio includes full ownership of several key assets: the Gold Bar mine in Eureka County, Nevada; the Black Fox gold mine located in Ontario, Canada; the El Gallo Project and the Fenix silver-gold project, both situated in Sinaloa, Mexico; and the Los Azules copper deposit in San Juan, Argentina. McEwen Mining also possesses a broad array of exploration properties spanning Nevada, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina. Furthermore, the company holds a 49% stake in the San José mine, which is located in Argentina. Initially incorporated in 1979, the enterprise was formerly recognized as US Gold Corporation before adopting the name McEwen Mining Inc. in January 2012.
MUX (McEwen Mining Inc.) trades in the Basic Materials sector, specifically Other Precious Metals, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.14B, a trailing P/E of 14.30, a beta of 1.25 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 9.865-29.7, average daily share volume of 1.1M, a public-listing history dating back to 1980, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how MUX stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.25 places MUX roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. MUX 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 MUX?
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.
MUX snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $18.84, ATM IV 58.90%, IV rank 27.30%, expected move 16.89%. The cash-secured put on MUX 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 7-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on MUX specifically: MUX IV at 58.90% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling MUX cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 16.89% (roughly $3.18 on the underlying). The 7-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated MUX expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on MUX should anchor to the underlying notional of $18.84 per share and to the trader's directional view on MUX stock.
MUX cash-secured put setup
The MUX 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 MUX at $18.84 on that close, the first option leg uses a $18.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed MUX chain at a 7-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 MUX shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $18.00 | $0.40 |
MUX cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$40.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $40.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$1,759.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $17.60
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.023
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
MUX cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on MUX. 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 | -99.9% | -$1,759.00 |
| $4.17 | -77.8% | -$1,342.55 |
| $8.34 | -55.7% | -$926.10 |
| $12.50 | -33.6% | -$509.64 |
| $16.67 | -11.5% | -$93.19 |
| $20.83 | +10.6% | +$40.00 |
| $25.00 | +32.7% | +$40.00 |
| $29.16 | +54.8% | +$40.00 |
| $33.33 | +76.9% | +$40.00 |
| $37.49 | +99.0% | +$40.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on MUX
Cash-secured puts on MUX earn premium while a trader waits to acquire MUX stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning MUX.
MUX thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for MUX extends from approximately $15.66 on the downside to $22.02 on the upside. A MUX cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire MUX 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 MUX IV rank near 27.30% 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 MUX at 58.90%. As a Basic Materials name, MUX options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to MUX-specific events.
MUX 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. MUX positions also carry Basic Materials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move MUX alongside the broader basket even when MUX-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on MUX carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical MUX earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current MUX chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on MUX?
- A cash-secured put on MUX is the cash-secured put strategy applied to MUX (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 MUX stock at $18.84 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed MUX chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are MUX 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 MUX cash-secured put priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 58.90%), the computed maximum profit is $40.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$1,759.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a MUX cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the MUX cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $17.60 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 MUX market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 16.89%; 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 MUX?
- Cash-secured puts on MUX earn premium while a trader waits to acquire MUX stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning MUX.
- How does current MUX implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- MUX ATM IV is at 58.90% with IV rank near 27.30%, 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.