SFST Cash-Secured Put Strategy
SFST (Southern First Bancshares, Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Banks - Regional industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Southern First Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern First Bank that provides various banking products and services to general public in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. It operates through three segments: Commercial and Retail Banking, Mortgage Banking, and Corporate Operations. The company accepts various deposit products that include checking accounts, commercial checking accounts, and savings accounts, as well as other time deposits, including daily money market accounts and long-term certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate loans; construction real estate loans; commercial business loans for various lines of businesses, such as the manufacturing, service industry, and professional service areas; consumer real estate and home equity loans; and other consumer loans, including secured and unsecured installment loans and revolving lines of credit. In addition, the company provides other bank services, such as internet banking, cash management, safe deposit boxes, direct deposit, automatic drafts, bill payment, and mobile banking services. It operates through eight retail offices located in Greenville, Charleston, and Columbia; three retail offices located in Raleigh, Greensboro, and Charlotte markets; and one retail office located in Atlanta.
SFST (Southern First Bancshares, Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Banks - Regional, with a market capitalization of approximately $527.0M, a trailing P/E of 13.01, a beta of 0.68 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 34.51-62, average daily share volume of 121K, a public-listing history dating back to 1999, approximately 297 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how SFST stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.68 indicates SFST 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 cash-secured put on SFST?
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 SFST snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $54.92, ATM IV 147.70%, IV rank 91.20%, expected move 42.34%. The cash-secured put on SFST 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 cash-secured put structure on SFST specifically: SFST IV at 147.70% is rich versus its 1-year range, which favors premium-selling structures like a SFST cash-secured put, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 42.34% (roughly $23.26 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 SFST expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on SFST should anchor to the underlying notional of $54.92 per share and to the trader's directional view on SFST stock.
SFST cash-secured put setup
The SFST 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 SFST near $54.92, the first option leg uses a $52.17 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed SFST 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 SFST shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $52.17 | N/A |
SFST 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.
SFST cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on SFST. 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 SFST
Cash-secured puts on SFST earn premium while a trader waits to acquire SFST stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning SFST.
SFST thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for SFST extends from approximately $31.66 on the downside to $78.18 on the upside. A SFST cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire SFST 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 SFST IV rank near 91.20% sits in the upper third of its 1-year distribution, which historically reverts; this raises the bar for premium-buying structures and lowers it for premium-selling structures on SFST at 147.70%. As a Financial Services name, SFST options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to SFST-specific events.
SFST 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. SFST positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move SFST alongside the broader basket even when SFST-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on SFST carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical SFST earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current SFST chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on SFST?
- A cash-secured put on SFST is the cash-secured put strategy applied to SFST (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 SFST stock trading near $54.92, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed SFST chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are SFST 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 SFST cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 147.70%), 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 SFST cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the SFST cash-secured put priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve 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 SFST market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 42.34%; 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 SFST?
- Cash-secured puts on SFST earn premium while a trader waits to acquire SFST stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning SFST.
- How does current SFST implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- SFST ATM IV is at 147.70% with IV rank near 91.20%, which is elevated relative to its 1-year range. Premium-selling structures (covered call, cash-secured put, iron condor) generally look more attractive when IV rank is high; premium-buying structures (long call, long put, debit spreads) are more expensive in that regime.