UNP Cash-Secured Put Strategy
UNP (Union Pacific Corporation), in the Industrials sector, (Railroads industry), listed on NYSE.
Union Pacific Corporation, through its subsidiary, Union Pacific Railroad Company, operates in the railroad business in the United States. The company offers transportation services for grain and grain products, fertilizers, food and refrigerated products, and coal and renewables to grain processors, animal feeders, ethanol producers, and other agricultural users; petroleum, and liquid petroleum gases; and construction products, industrial chemicals, plastics, forest products, specialized products, metals and ores, soda ash, and sand, as well as finished automobiles, automotive parts, and merchandise in intermodal containers. As of December 31, 2021, its rail network included 32,452 route miles connecting Pacific Coast and Gulf Coast ports with the Midwest and Eastern United States gateways. The company was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.
UNP (Union Pacific Corporation) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Railroads, with a market capitalization of approximately $157.13B, a trailing P/E of 21.76, a beta of 0.99 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 210.84-274.79, average daily share volume of 3.0M, a public-listing history dating back to 1980, approximately 30K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how UNP stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.99 places UNP roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. UNP 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 UNP?
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 UNP snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $270.29, ATM IV 25.06%, IV rank 45.31%, expected move 7.19%. The cash-secured put on UNP 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 cash-secured put structure on UNP specifically: UNP IV at 25.06% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a UNP cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 7.19% (roughly $19.42 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 UNP expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on UNP should anchor to the underlying notional of $270.29 per share and to the trader's directional view on UNP stock.
UNP cash-secured put setup
The UNP 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 UNP near $270.29, the first option leg uses a $255.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed UNP 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 UNP shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $255.00 | $2.65 |
UNP cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$265.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $265.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$25,234.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $252.35
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.011
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
UNP cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on UNP. 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% | -$25,234.00 |
| $59.77 | -77.9% | -$19,257.85 |
| $119.53 | -55.8% | -$13,281.70 |
| $179.29 | -33.7% | -$7,305.55 |
| $239.06 | -11.6% | -$1,329.40 |
| $298.82 | +10.6% | +$265.00 |
| $358.58 | +32.7% | +$265.00 |
| $418.34 | +54.8% | +$265.00 |
| $478.10 | +76.9% | +$265.00 |
| $537.86 | +99.0% | +$265.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on UNP
Cash-secured puts on UNP earn premium while a trader waits to acquire UNP stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning UNP.
UNP thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for UNP extends from approximately $250.87 on the downside to $289.71 on the upside. A UNP cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire UNP 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 UNP IV rank near 45.31% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put thesis on UNP should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Industrials name, UNP options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to UNP-specific events.
UNP 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. UNP positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move UNP alongside the broader basket even when UNP-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on UNP carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical UNP earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current UNP chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on UNP?
- A cash-secured put on UNP is the cash-secured put strategy applied to UNP (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 UNP stock trading near $270.29, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed UNP chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are UNP 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 UNP cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 25.06%), the computed maximum profit is $265.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$25,234.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a UNP cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the UNP cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $252.35 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 UNP market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 7.19%; 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 UNP?
- Cash-secured puts on UNP earn premium while a trader waits to acquire UNP stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning UNP.
- How does current UNP implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- UNP ATM IV is at 25.06% with IV rank near 45.31%, 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.