NXST Bear Put Spread Strategy
NXST (Nexstar Media Group, Inc.), in the Communication Services sector, (Entertainment industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Nexstar Media Group, Inc., a television broadcasting and digital media company, focuses on the acquisition, development, and operation of television stations and interactive community websites and digital media services in the United States. The company offers free programming to television viewing audiences. As of December 31, 2020, it provided sales, programming, and other services through various local service agreements to 37 power television stations owned by independent third parties; and owned, operated, programmed, or provided sales and other services to 198 television stations. The company also offers video and display advertising platforms that are delivered locally or nationally through its own and various third party websites and mobile applications, as well as owns WGN America, a national general entertainment cable network. Its stations are affiliates of ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, The CW, MyNetworkTV, and other broadcast television networks. The company was formerly known as Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. and changed its name to Nexstar Media Group, Inc. in January 2017.
NXST (Nexstar Media Group, Inc.) trades in the Communication Services sector, specifically Entertainment, with a market capitalization of approximately $5.98B, a trailing P/E of 36.07, a beta of 0.96 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 164-254.3, average daily share volume of 403K, a public-listing history dating back to 2003, approximately 12K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how NXST stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.96 places NXST roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 36.07 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. NXST 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 NXST?
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 NXST snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $195.19, ATM IV 36.30%, IV rank 36.34%, expected move 10.41%. The bear put spread on NXST 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 NXST specifically: NXST IV at 36.30% 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 10.41% (roughly $20.31 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 NXST expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on NXST should anchor to the underlying notional of $195.19 per share and to the trader's directional view on NXST stock.
NXST bear put spread setup
The NXST 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 NXST near $195.19, the first option leg uses a $195.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed NXST 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 NXST shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $195.00 | $8.65 |
| Sell 1 | Put | $185.00 | $4.55 |
NXST bear put spread risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$410.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $590.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$410.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $190.90
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.439
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.
NXST bear put spread payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bear put spread on NXST. 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% | +$590.00 |
| $43.17 | -77.9% | +$590.00 |
| $86.32 | -55.8% | +$590.00 |
| $129.48 | -33.7% | +$590.00 |
| $172.64 | -11.6% | +$590.00 |
| $215.79 | +10.6% | -$410.00 |
| $258.95 | +32.7% | -$410.00 |
| $302.11 | +54.8% | -$410.00 |
| $345.26 | +76.9% | -$410.00 |
| $388.42 | +99.0% | -$410.00 |
When traders use bear put spread on NXST
Bear put spreads on NXST reduce the cost of a bearish NXST stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
NXST thesis for this bear put spread
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for NXST extends from approximately $174.88 on the downside to $215.50 on the upside. A NXST bear put spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bearish position; relative to an outright long put on NXST, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current NXST IV rank near 36.34% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the bear put spread thesis on NXST should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Communication Services name, NXST options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to NXST-specific events.
NXST 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. NXST positions also carry Communication Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move NXST alongside the broader basket even when NXST-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bear put spread on NXST 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 NXST chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a bear put spread on NXST?
- A bear put spread on NXST is the bear put spread strategy applied to NXST (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 NXST stock trading near $195.19, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed NXST chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are NXST 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 NXST bear put spread priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 36.30%), the computed maximum profit is $590.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$410.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a NXST bear put spread?
- The breakeven for the NXST bear put spread priced on this page is roughly $190.90 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 NXST market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 10.41%; 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 NXST?
- Bear put spreads on NXST reduce the cost of a bearish NXST 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 NXST implied volatility affect this bear put spread?
- NXST ATM IV is at 36.30% with IV rank near 36.34%, 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.