PRGS Cash-Secured Put Strategy
PRGS (Progress Software Corporation), in the Technology sector, (Software - Infrastructure industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Progress Software Corporation (PRGS) specializes in providing technology solutions that enable businesses to create, launch, and oversee their software applications. The company's extensive product suite includes: OpenEdge, a powerful development platform used to construct secure, multi-language applications that can be deployed across diverse platforms, devices, and cloud infrastructures. A comprehensive set of developer tools offering user interface (UI) components for building web, mobile, desktop, chat, and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) applications, alongside automated testing and reporting utilities. Sitefinity, which serves as a unified platform for managing web content and performing in-depth customer analytics. Corticon, a business rules management system designed to infuse applications with decision automation, efficient change processes, and valuable insights. DataDirect Connect, ensuring seamless data connectivity between applications running on various platforms through industry-standard interfaces.
PRGS (Progress Software Corporation) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Software - Infrastructure, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.79B, a trailing P/E of 20.57, a beta of 0.81 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 23.82-47.37, average daily share volume of 848K, a public-listing history dating back to 1991, approximately 3K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PRGS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.81 places PRGS roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. PRGS 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 PRGS?
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.
PRGS snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $43.99, ATM IV 52.80%, IV rank 27.92%, expected move 15.14%. The cash-secured put on PRGS 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 126-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on PRGS specifically: PRGS IV at 52.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling PRGS cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 15.14% (roughly $6.66 on the underlying). The 126-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated PRGS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PRGS should anchor to the underlying notional of $43.99 per share and to the trader's directional view on PRGS stock.
PRGS cash-secured put setup
The PRGS 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 PRGS at $43.99 on that close, the first option leg uses a $42.50 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PRGS chain at a 126-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 PRGS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $42.50 | $4.55 |
PRGS cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$455.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $455.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$3,794.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $37.95
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.120
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
PRGS cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on PRGS. 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% | -$3,794.00 |
| $9.74 | -77.9% | -$2,821.47 |
| $19.46 | -55.8% | -$1,848.93 |
| $29.19 | -33.7% | -$876.40 |
| $38.91 | -11.5% | +$96.13 |
| $48.64 | +10.6% | +$455.00 |
| $58.36 | +32.7% | +$455.00 |
| $68.09 | +54.8% | +$455.00 |
| $77.81 | +76.9% | +$455.00 |
| $87.54 | +99.0% | +$455.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on PRGS
Cash-secured puts on PRGS earn premium while a trader waits to acquire PRGS stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning PRGS.
PRGS thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PRGS extends from approximately $37.33 on the downside to $50.65 on the upside. A PRGS cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire PRGS 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 PRGS IV rank near 27.92% 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 PRGS at 52.80%. As a Technology name, PRGS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PRGS-specific events.
PRGS 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. PRGS positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move PRGS alongside the broader basket even when PRGS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on PRGS carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical PRGS earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current PRGS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on PRGS?
- A cash-secured put on PRGS is the cash-secured put strategy applied to PRGS (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 PRGS stock at $43.99 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PRGS chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are PRGS 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 PRGS cash-secured put priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 52.80%), the computed maximum profit is $455.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$3,794.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a PRGS cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the PRGS cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $37.95 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 PRGS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 15.14%; 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 PRGS?
- Cash-secured puts on PRGS earn premium while a trader waits to acquire PRGS stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning PRGS.
- How does current PRGS implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- PRGS ATM IV is at 52.80% with IV rank near 27.92%, 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.