VGZ Bear Put Spread Strategy
VGZ (Vista Gold Corp.), in the Basic Materials sector, (Gold industry), listed on AMEX.
Vista Gold Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the evaluation, acquisition, exploration, and advancement of gold exploration and development projects primarily in Australia. The company's flagship asset is the Mt Todd gold project located in Northern Territory. Vista Gold Corp. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Littleton, Colorado.
VGZ (Vista Gold Corp.) trades in the Basic Materials sector, specifically Gold, with a market capitalization of approximately $337.2M, a beta of 1.21 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 0.91-3.13, average daily share volume of 1.6M, a public-listing history dating back to 1984, approximately 13 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how VGZ stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.21 places VGZ roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a bear put spread on VGZ?
A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width.
Current VGZ snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $2.16, ATM IV 77.30%, IV rank 11.06%, expected move 22.16%. The bear put spread on VGZ 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 bear put spread structure on VGZ specifically: VGZ IV at 77.30% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a VGZ bear put spread, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 22.16% (roughly $0.48 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 VGZ expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on VGZ should anchor to the underlying notional of $2.16 per share and to the trader's directional view on VGZ stock.
VGZ bear put spread setup
The VGZ bear put spread below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With VGZ near $2.16, the first option leg uses a $2.16 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed VGZ 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 VGZ shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $2.16 | N/A |
| Sell 1 | Put | $2.05 | N/A |
VGZ bear put spread 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 strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit.
VGZ bear put spread payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bear put spread on VGZ. 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 bear put spread on VGZ
Bear put spreads on VGZ reduce the cost of a bearish VGZ stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
VGZ thesis for this bear put spread
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for VGZ extends from approximately $1.68 on the downside to $2.64 on the upside. A VGZ bear put spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bearish position; relative to an outright long put on VGZ, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current VGZ IV rank near 11.06% 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 VGZ at 77.30%. As a Basic Materials name, VGZ options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to VGZ-specific events.
VGZ bear put spread positions are structurally moderately 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. VGZ positions also carry Basic Materials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move VGZ alongside the broader basket even when VGZ-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bear put spread on VGZ 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 VGZ chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a bear put spread on VGZ?
- A bear put spread on VGZ is the bear put spread strategy applied to VGZ (stock). The strategy is structurally moderately bearish: A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width. With VGZ stock trading near $2.16, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed VGZ chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are VGZ bear put spread max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit. For the VGZ bear put spread priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 77.30%), 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 VGZ bear put spread?
- The breakeven for the VGZ bear put spread 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 VGZ market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 22.16%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a bear put spread on VGZ?
- Bear put spreads on VGZ reduce the cost of a bearish VGZ stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
- How does current VGZ implied volatility affect this bear put spread?
- VGZ ATM IV is at 77.30% with IV rank near 11.06%, 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.