PCYO Cash-Secured Put Strategy
PCYO (Pure Cycle Corporation), in the Utilities sector, (Regulated Water industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Pure Cycle Corporation provides water and wastewater services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Water and Wastewater Resource Development, Land Development, and Single-Family Rental. The company engages in the wholesale water production, storage, treatment, and distribution systems; wastewater collection and treatment systems; development of land into master planned communities; and construction and leasing of single-family homes. It serves domestic, commercial, and industrial customers. Pure Cycle Corporation was incorporated in 1976 and is headquartered in Watkins, Colorado.
PCYO (Pure Cycle Corporation) trades in the Utilities sector, specifically Regulated Water, with a market capitalization of approximately $273.0M, a trailing P/E of 18.55, a beta of 1.23 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 9.705-12.44, average daily share volume of 61K, a public-listing history dating back to 1994, approximately 44 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PCYO stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.23 places PCYO roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a cash-secured put on PCYO?
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.
PCYO snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $11.29, ATM IV 328.20%, IV rank 69.41%, expected move 5.34%. The cash-secured put on PCYO below is built from the end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 35-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on PCYO specifically: PCYO IV at 328.20% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a PCYO cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 5.34% (roughly $0.60 on the underlying). The 35-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated PCYO expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PCYO should anchor to the underlying notional of $11.29 per share and to the trader's directional view on PCYO stock.
PCYO cash-secured put setup
The PCYO 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 PCYO at $11.29 on that close, the first option leg uses a $10.73 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PCYO chain at a 35-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 PCYO shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $10.73 | N/A |
PCYO cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- N/A
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Breakeven(s)
- None on modeled curve
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- N/A
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
PCYO cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on PCYO. 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.
When traders use cash-secured put on PCYO
Cash-secured puts on PCYO earn premium while a trader waits to acquire PCYO stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning PCYO.
PCYO thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PCYO extends from approximately $10.69 on the downside to $11.89 on the upside. A PCYO cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire PCYO 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 PCYO IV rank near 69.41% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put thesis on PCYO should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Utilities name, PCYO options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PCYO-specific events.
PCYO 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. PCYO positions also carry Utilities sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move PCYO alongside the broader basket even when PCYO-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on PCYO carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical PCYO earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current PCYO chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on PCYO?
- A cash-secured put on PCYO is the cash-secured put strategy applied to PCYO (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 PCYO stock at $11.29 on the most recent close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PCYO chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are PCYO 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 PCYO cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 328.20%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is unbounded per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a PCYO cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the PCYO cash-secured put priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve at expiration, derived from the 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 PCYO market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 5.34%; 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 PCYO?
- Cash-secured puts on PCYO earn premium while a trader waits to acquire PCYO stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning PCYO.
- How does current PCYO implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- PCYO ATM IV is at 328.20% with IV rank near 69.41%, 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.