How are UNH long put max profit and max loss calculated?

Max profit equals the strike minus premium times 100 (reached at zero); max loss equals the premium times 100. Breakeven is strike minus premium. For the UNH long put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 27.65%), the computed maximum profit is $37,929.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$1,070.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.

What is the breakeven for a UNH long put?

The breakeven for the UNH long put priced on this page is roughly $379.30 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 UNH market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 7.93%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.

How does current UNH implied volatility affect this long put?

UNH ATM IV is at 27.65% with IV rank near 5.18%, 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.

UNH Long Put Strategy

UNH (UnitedHealth Group Incorporated), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Healthcare Plans industry), listed on NYSE.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. It operates through four segments: UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx. The UnitedHealthcare segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services for national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; health care coverage and well-being services to individuals age 50 and older addressing their needs for preventive and acute health care services, as well as services dealing with chronic disease and other specialized issues for older individuals; Medicaid plans, children's health insurance and health care programs; health and dental benefits; and hospital and clinical services. The OptumHealth segment provides access to networks of care provider specialists, health management services, care delivery, consumer engagement, and financial services. This segment serves individuals directly through care delivery systems, employers, payers, and government entities. The OptumInsight segment offers software and information products, advisory consulting arrangements, and managed services outsourcing contracts to hospital systems, physicians, health plans, governments, life sciences companies, and other organizations.

UNH (UnitedHealth Group Incorporated) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Healthcare Plans, with a market capitalization of approximately $364.31B, a trailing P/E of 30.31, a beta of 0.65 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 234.6-404.15, average daily share volume of 8.5M, a public-listing history dating back to 1984, approximately 400K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how UNH stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.

A beta of 0.65 indicates UNH has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. UNH pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.

What is a long put on UNH?

A long put buys downside exposure with a fixed maximum loss equal to the premium paid; profit accrues if the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration.

Current UNH snapshot

As of May 15, 2026, spot at $391.49, ATM IV 27.65%, IV rank 5.18%, expected move 7.93%. The long put on UNH 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 28-day expiry.

Why this long put structure on UNH specifically: UNH IV at 27.65% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a UNH long put, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 7.93% (roughly $31.04 on the underlying). The 28-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated UNH expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on UNH should anchor to the underlying notional of $391.49 per share and to the trader's directional view on UNH stock.

UNH long put setup

The UNH long 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 UNH near $391.49, the first option leg uses a $390.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed UNH chain at a 28-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 UNH shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).

Action	Type	Strike / Basis	Premium (est)
Buy 1	Put	$390.00	$10.70

UNH long put risk and reward

Net Premium / Debit: -$1,070.00
Max Profit (per contract): $37,929.00
Max Loss (per contract): -$1,070.00
Breakeven(s): $379.30
Risk / Reward Ratio: 35.448

Max profit equals the strike minus premium times 100 (reached at zero); max loss equals the premium times 100. Breakeven is strike minus premium.

UNH long put payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the long put on UNH. 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%	+$37,929.00
$86.57	-77.9%	+$29,273.05
$173.13	-55.8%	+$20,617.10
$259.69	-33.7%	+$11,961.15
$346.25	-11.6%	+$3,305.20
$432.81	+10.6%	-$1,070.00
$519.37	+32.7%	-$1,070.00
$605.93	+54.8%	-$1,070.00
$692.49	+76.9%	-$1,070.00
$779.05	+99.0%	-$1,070.00

When traders use long put on UNH

Long puts on UNH hedge an existing long UNH stock position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying UNH exposure being hedged.

UNH thesis for this long put

The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for UNH extends from approximately $360.45 on the downside to $422.53 on the upside. A UNH long put expresses a directional view that the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration, frequently sized to hedge an existing long UNH position with one put per 100 shares held. Current UNH IV rank near 5.18% 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 UNH at 27.65%. As a Healthcare name, UNH options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to UNH-specific events.

UNH long put positions are structurally 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. UNH positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move UNH alongside the broader basket even when UNH-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a long put on UNH 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 UNH chain quotes before placing a trade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a long put on UNH?: A long put on UNH is the long put strategy applied to UNH (stock). The strategy is structurally bearish: A long put buys downside exposure with a fixed maximum loss equal to the premium paid; profit accrues if the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration. With UNH stock trading near $391.49, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed UNH chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
How are UNH long put max profit and max loss calculated?: Max profit equals the strike minus premium times 100 (reached at zero); max loss equals the premium times 100. Breakeven is strike minus premium. For the UNH long put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 27.65%), the computed maximum profit is $37,929.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$1,070.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
What is the breakeven for a UNH long put?: The breakeven for the UNH long put priced on this page is roughly $379.30 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 UNH market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 7.93%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
When should you consider a long put on UNH?: Long puts on UNH hedge an existing long UNH stock position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying UNH exposure being hedged.
How does current UNH implied volatility affect this long put?: UNH ATM IV is at 27.65% with IV rank near 5.18%, 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.