STC Cash-Secured Put Strategy
STC (Stewart Information Services Corporation), in the Financial Services sector, (Insurance - Property & Casualty industry), listed on NYSE.
Stewart Information Services Corporation (STC) operates as a key provider of title insurance and related services essential for real estate transactions, delivered through its various subsidiary entities. The company's operations are divided into two primary segments: "Title" and "Ancillary Services and Corporate." The Title division is fundamentally involved in ensuring property security by conducting thorough title searches, examinations, and closings, culminating in the issuance of title insurance. This segment further extends its offerings to include personal and property insurance solutions, support for tax-deferred property exchanges, and advanced digital platforms designed to enhance customer engagement. Conversely, the Ancillary Services and Corporate segment furnishes a suite of support services, especially tailored for the mortgage industry. These encompass the management of appraisals, virtual notarization and closing capabilities, the provision of vital credit and real estate data, and specialized property search and valuation analyses. Stewart delivers its extensive range of products and services via multiple channels, including its directly managed policy-issuing offices, a broad network of independent agencies, and various other business units within the corporation.
STC (Stewart Information Services Corporation) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Insurance - Property & Casualty, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.05B, a trailing P/E of 16.03, a beta of 1.01 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 56.39-78.61, average daily share volume of 188K, a public-listing history dating back to 1973, approximately 7K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how STC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.01 places STC roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. STC 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 STC?
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 STC snapshot
As of June 29, 2026, spot at $66.83, ATM IV 409.10%, IV rank 81.77%, expected move 117.28%. The cash-secured put on STC 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 cash-secured put structure on STC specifically: STC IV at 409.10% is rich versus its 1-year range, which favors premium-selling structures like a STC cash-secured put, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 117.28% (roughly $78.38 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 STC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on STC should anchor to the underlying notional of $66.83 per share and to the trader's directional view on STC stock.
STC cash-secured put setup
The STC 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 STC near $66.83, the first option leg uses a $63.49 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed STC 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 STC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $63.49 | N/A |
STC 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.
STC cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on STC. 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 STC
Cash-secured puts on STC earn premium while a trader waits to acquire STC stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning STC.
STC thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for STC extends from approximately $-11.55 on the downside to $145.21 on the upside. A STC cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire STC 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 STC IV rank near 81.77% 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 STC at 409.10%. As a Financial Services name, STC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to STC-specific events.
STC 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. STC positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move STC alongside the broader basket even when STC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on STC carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical STC earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current STC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on STC?
- A cash-secured put on STC is the cash-secured put strategy applied to STC (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 STC stock trading near $66.83, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed STC chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are STC 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 STC cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 409.10%), 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 STC cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the STC 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 STC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 117.28%; 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 STC?
- Cash-secured puts on STC earn premium while a trader waits to acquire STC stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning STC.
- How does current STC implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- STC ATM IV is at 409.10% with IV rank near 81.77%, 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.