MUX Collar 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 $1.12B, a trailing P/E of 13.99, 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 collar on MUX?

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.

MUX snapshot

As of August 14, 2026, spot at $18.84, ATM IV 58.90%, IV rank 27.30%, expected move 16.89%. The collar 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 collar structure on MUX specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; compressed MUX IV at 58.90% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, 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 collar setup

The MUX 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 MUX at $18.84 on that close, the first option leg uses a $20.00 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).

ActionTypeStrike / BasisPremium (est)
Buy 100 sharesStock$18.84long
Sell 1Call$20.00$0.28
Buy 1Put$18.00$0.40

MUX collar risk and reward

Net Premium / Debit
-$1,896.50
Max Profit (per contract)
$103.50
Max Loss (per contract)
-$96.50
Breakeven(s)
$18.97
Risk / Reward Ratio
1.073

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.

MUX collar payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar 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.

MUX collar profit and loss curve at expiration with breakevens and current spot markedMUX collar payoff at expiration-$50$0$50$100$5$10$15$20$25$30$35Underlying Price ($)P&L at Expiration ($)BE $18.96Spot $18.84
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
$0.01-99.9%-$96.50
$4.17-77.8%-$96.50
$8.34-55.7%-$96.50
$12.50-33.6%-$96.50
$16.67-11.5%-$96.50
$20.83+10.6%+$103.50
$25.00+32.7%+$103.50
$29.16+54.8%+$103.50
$33.33+76.9%+$103.50
$37.49+99.0%+$103.50

When traders use collar on MUX

Collars on MUX hedge an existing long MUX 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.

MUX thesis for this collar

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 collar hedges an existing long MUX 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 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 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. 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. Always rebuild the position from current MUX chain quotes before placing a trade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a collar on MUX?
A collar on MUX is the collar strategy applied to MUX (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 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 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 MUX collar priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 58.90%), the computed maximum profit is $103.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$96.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
What is the breakeven for a MUX collar?
The breakeven for the MUX collar priced on this page is roughly $18.97 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 collar on MUX?
Collars on MUX hedge an existing long MUX 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 MUX implied volatility affect this collar?
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.

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