NOW Cash-Secured Put Strategy
NOW (ServiceNow, Inc.), in the Technology sector, (Software - Application industry), listed on NYSE.
ServiceNow, Inc. provides enterprise cloud computing solutions that defines, structures, consolidates, manages, and automates services for enterprises worldwide. It operates the Now platform for workflow automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotic process automation, performance analytics, electronic service catalogs and portals, configuration management systems, data benchmarking, encryption, and collaboration and development tools. The company also provides information technology (IT) service management applications; IT service management product suite for enterprise's employees, customers, and partners; IT business management product suite; IT operations management product that connects a customer's physical and cloud-based IT infrastructure; IT Asset Management to automate IT asset lifecycles; and security operations that connects with internal and third party. In addition, it offers governance, risk, and compliance product to manage risk and resilience; human resources, legal, and workplace service delivery products; safe workplace applications; customer service management product; and field service management applications. Further, it provides App Engine product; IntegrationHub enables application to extend workflows; and professional, industry solutions, and customer support services. It serves government, financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, manufacturing, IT services, technology, oil and gas, education, and consumer products through direct sales team and resale partners.
NOW (ServiceNow, Inc.) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Software - Application, with a market capitalization of approximately $89.78B, a trailing P/E of 51.29, a beta of 0.82 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 81.24-211.478, average daily share volume of 22.1M, a public-listing history dating back to 2012, approximately 26K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how NOW stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.82 places NOW roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 51.29 is on the rich side, which tends to correlate with higher earnings-window IV expansion as the market debates whether forward growth supports the multiple.
What is a cash-secured put on NOW?
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.
Current NOW snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $95.25, ATM IV 58.41%, IV rank 63.12%, expected move 16.75%. The cash-secured put on NOW 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 28-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on NOW specifically: NOW IV at 58.41% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a NOW cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 16.75% (roughly $15.95 on the underlying). The 28-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated NOW expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on NOW should anchor to the underlying notional of $95.25 per share and to the trader's directional view on NOW stock.
NOW cash-secured put setup
The NOW cash-secured put below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With NOW near $95.25, the first option leg uses a $90.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed NOW chain at a 28-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 NOW shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $90.00 | $3.65 |
NOW cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$365.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $365.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$8,634.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $86.35
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.042
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
NOW cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on NOW. 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% | -$8,634.00 |
| $21.07 | -77.9% | -$6,528.08 |
| $42.13 | -55.8% | -$4,422.16 |
| $63.19 | -33.7% | -$2,316.24 |
| $84.25 | -11.6% | -$210.32 |
| $105.31 | +10.6% | +$365.00 |
| $126.37 | +32.7% | +$365.00 |
| $147.42 | +54.8% | +$365.00 |
| $168.48 | +76.9% | +$365.00 |
| $189.54 | +99.0% | +$365.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on NOW
Cash-secured puts on NOW earn premium while a trader waits to acquire NOW stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning NOW.
NOW thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for NOW extends from approximately $79.30 on the downside to $111.20 on the upside. A NOW cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire NOW 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 NOW IV rank near 63.12% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put thesis on NOW should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Technology name, NOW options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to NOW-specific events.
NOW 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. NOW positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move NOW alongside the broader basket even when NOW-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on NOW carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical NOW earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current NOW chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on NOW?
- A cash-secured put on NOW is the cash-secured put strategy applied to NOW (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 NOW stock trading near $95.25, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed NOW chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are NOW 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 NOW cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 58.41%), the computed maximum profit is $365.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$8,634.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a NOW cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the NOW cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $86.35 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 NOW market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 16.75%; 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 NOW?
- Cash-secured puts on NOW earn premium while a trader waits to acquire NOW stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning NOW.
- How does current NOW implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- NOW ATM IV is at 58.41% with IV rank near 63.12%, 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.