QLYS Bear Put Spread Strategy
QLYS (Qualys, Inc.), in the Technology sector, (Software - Infrastructure industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Qualys, Inc., founded in 1999 and headquartered in Foster City, California, specializes in delivering cloud-based solutions for information technology (IT) management, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance to organizations globally. The company's integrated Qualys Cloud Platform hosts a comprehensive suite of "Qualys Cloud Apps," encompassing a broad spectrum of services such as vulnerability management, threat detection and response, multi-vector endpoint security, patch management, certificate assessment, web application scanning and firewall, as well as various IT, cloud, and container security and compliance tools. This powerful platform empowers customers to meticulously identify and manage their IT assets, gather and analyze critical security data, proactively uncover and prioritize vulnerabilities, recommend and initiate effective remediation actions, and ultimately verify their successful implementation. Complementing these core functions, Qualys also provides features like advanced asset tagging, intuitive reporting and dashboards, collaborative questionnaires, streamlined remediation workflows, a robust big data correlation and analytics engine, and real-time alerts. These components collectively ensure integrated operations, in-depth real-time analysis, and comprehensive reporting across an organization's entire IT, security, and compliance landscape. Qualys serves a diverse client base, including large enterprises, government entities, and small to medium-sized businesses across numerous sectors such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, education, and technology.
QLYS (Qualys, Inc.) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Software - Infrastructure, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.34B, a trailing P/E of 21.79, a beta of 0.65 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 74.51-155.47, average daily share volume of 836K, a public-listing history dating back to 2012, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how QLYS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.65 indicates QLYS has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure.
What is a bear put spread on QLYS?
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 QLYS snapshot
As of June 29, 2026, spot at $128.43, ATM IV 48.60%, IV rank 49.89%, expected move 13.93%. The bear put spread on QLYS 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 18-day expiry.
Why this bear put spread structure on QLYS specifically: QLYS IV at 48.60% 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 13.93% (roughly $17.89 on the underlying). The 18-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated QLYS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on QLYS should anchor to the underlying notional of $128.43 per share and to the trader's directional view on QLYS stock.
QLYS bear put spread setup
The QLYS 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 QLYS near $128.43, the first option leg uses a $130.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed QLYS chain at a 18-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 QLYS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $130.00 | $6.50 |
| Sell 1 | Put | $120.00 | $2.40 |
QLYS 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)
- $125.90
- 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.
QLYS bear put spread payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bear put spread on QLYS. 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 |
| $28.41 | -77.9% | +$590.00 |
| $56.80 | -55.8% | +$590.00 |
| $85.20 | -33.7% | +$590.00 |
| $113.59 | -11.6% | +$590.00 |
| $141.99 | +10.6% | -$410.00 |
| $170.38 | +32.7% | -$410.00 |
| $198.78 | +54.8% | -$410.00 |
| $227.17 | +76.9% | -$410.00 |
| $255.57 | +99.0% | -$410.00 |
When traders use bear put spread on QLYS
Bear put spreads on QLYS reduce the cost of a bearish QLYS stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
QLYS thesis for this bear put spread
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for QLYS extends from approximately $110.54 on the downside to $146.32 on the upside. A QLYS bear put spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bearish position; relative to an outright long put on QLYS, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current QLYS IV rank near 49.89% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the bear put spread thesis on QLYS should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Technology name, QLYS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to QLYS-specific events.
QLYS 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. QLYS positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move QLYS alongside the broader basket even when QLYS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bear put spread on QLYS 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 QLYS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a bear put spread on QLYS?
- A bear put spread on QLYS is the bear put spread strategy applied to QLYS (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 QLYS stock trading near $128.43, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed QLYS chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are QLYS 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 QLYS bear put spread priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 48.60%), 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 QLYS bear put spread?
- The breakeven for the QLYS bear put spread priced on this page is roughly $125.90 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 QLYS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 13.93%; 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 QLYS?
- Bear put spreads on QLYS reduce the cost of a bearish QLYS 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 QLYS implied volatility affect this bear put spread?
- QLYS ATM IV is at 48.60% with IV rank near 49.89%, 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.