TKNO Cash-Secured Put Strategy
TKNO (Alpha Teknova, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Drug Manufacturers - Specialty & Generic industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Alpha Teknova, Inc. provides critical reagents for life sciences market in the United States and internationally. Its reagents enable the discovery, development, and production of biopharmaceutical products, such as drug therapies, novel vaccines, and molecular diagnostics. The company offers pre-poured media plates for cell growth and cloning; liquid cell culture media and supplements for cellular expansion; and molecular biology reagents for sample manipulation, resuspension, and purification. It serves life sciences market, including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract development and manufacturing organizations, in vitro diagnostic franchises, and academic and government research institutions. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Hollister, California.
TKNO (Alpha Teknova, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Drug Manufacturers - Specialty & Generic, with a market capitalization of approximately $209.6M, a beta of 0.47 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 1.91-6.86, average daily share volume of 132K, a public-listing history dating back to 2021, approximately 173 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how TKNO stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.47 indicates TKNO 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 TKNO?
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 TKNO snapshot
As of May 14, 2026, spot at $3.72, ATM IV 117.90%, IV rank 22.81%, expected move 33.80%. The cash-secured put on TKNO 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 35-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on TKNO specifically: TKNO IV at 117.90% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling TKNO cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 33.80% (roughly $1.26 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 TKNO expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on TKNO should anchor to the underlying notional of $3.72 per share and to the trader's directional view on TKNO stock.
TKNO cash-secured put setup
The TKNO 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 TKNO near $3.72, the first option leg uses a $3.53 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed TKNO 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 TKNO shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $3.53 | N/A |
TKNO 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.
TKNO cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on TKNO. 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 TKNO
Cash-secured puts on TKNO earn premium while a trader waits to acquire TKNO stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning TKNO.
TKNO thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for TKNO extends from approximately $2.46 on the downside to $4.98 on the upside. A TKNO cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire TKNO 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 TKNO IV rank near 22.81% 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 TKNO at 117.90%. As a Healthcare name, TKNO options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to TKNO-specific events.
TKNO 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. TKNO positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move TKNO alongside the broader basket even when TKNO-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on TKNO carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical TKNO earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current TKNO chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on TKNO?
- A cash-secured put on TKNO is the cash-secured put strategy applied to TKNO (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 TKNO stock trading near $3.72, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed TKNO chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are TKNO 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 TKNO cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 117.90%), 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 TKNO cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the TKNO 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 TKNO market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 33.80%; 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 TKNO?
- Cash-secured puts on TKNO earn premium while a trader waits to acquire TKNO stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning TKNO.
- How does current TKNO implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- TKNO ATM IV is at 117.90% with IV rank near 22.81%, 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.