VIR Bear Put Spread Strategy
VIR (Vir Biotechnology, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Vir Biotechnology, Inc., a commercial-stage immunology company, develops therapeutic products to treat and prevent serious infectious diseases. It develops Sotrovimab (VIR-7832), a SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing mAbs to treat and prevent COVID-19 infection under the Xevudy brand; VIR-2218 and VIR-3434 for the treatment of hepatitis B virus; VIR-2482 for the prevention of influenza A virus; and VIR-1111 for the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus. The company has grant agreements with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and National Institutes of Health; an option and license agreement with Brii Biosciences Limited and Brii Biosciences Offshore Limited; a collaboration and license agreement with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; license agreements with The Rockefeller University and MedImmune, Inc.; collaboration with WuXi Biologics and Glaxo Wellcome UK Ltd.; and a collaborative research agreement with GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA. It also has a manufacturing agreement with Samsung Biologics Co.,Ltd. for the manufacture of SARS-COV-2 antibodies; and clinical collaboration with Gilead Sciences, Inc. for chronic hepatitis B virus. Vir Biotechnology, Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
VIR (Vir Biotechnology, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.57B, a beta of 1.70 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 4.155-11.66, average daily share volume of 3.6M, a public-listing history dating back to 2019, approximately 408 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how VIR stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.70 indicates VIR has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position.
What is a bear put spread on VIR?
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 VIR snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $8.77, ATM IV 62.20%, IV rank 8.95%, expected move 17.83%. The bear put spread on VIR 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 63-day expiry.
Why this bear put spread structure on VIR specifically: VIR IV at 62.20% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a VIR bear put spread, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 17.83% (roughly $1.56 on the underlying). The 63-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated VIR expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on VIR should anchor to the underlying notional of $8.77 per share and to the trader's directional view on VIR stock.
VIR bear put spread setup
The VIR 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 VIR near $8.77, the first option leg uses a $9.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed VIR chain at a 63-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 VIR shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $9.00 | $1.38 |
| Sell 1 | Put | $8.00 | $0.48 |
VIR bear put spread risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$90.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $10.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$90.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $8.10
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.111
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.
VIR bear put spread payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bear put spread on VIR. 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 | -99.9% | +$10.00 |
| $1.95 | -77.8% | +$10.00 |
| $3.89 | -55.7% | +$10.00 |
| $5.82 | -33.6% | +$10.00 |
| $7.76 | -11.5% | +$10.00 |
| $9.70 | +10.6% | -$90.00 |
| $11.64 | +32.7% | -$90.00 |
| $13.58 | +54.8% | -$90.00 |
| $15.51 | +76.9% | -$90.00 |
| $17.45 | +99.0% | -$90.00 |
When traders use bear put spread on VIR
Bear put spreads on VIR reduce the cost of a bearish VIR stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
VIR thesis for this bear put spread
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for VIR extends from approximately $7.21 on the downside to $10.33 on the upside. A VIR bear put spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bearish position; relative to an outright long put on VIR, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current VIR IV rank near 8.95% 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 VIR at 62.20%. As a Healthcare name, VIR options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to VIR-specific events.
VIR 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. VIR positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move VIR alongside the broader basket even when VIR-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bear put spread on VIR 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 VIR chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a bear put spread on VIR?
- A bear put spread on VIR is the bear put spread strategy applied to VIR (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 VIR stock trading near $8.77, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed VIR chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are VIR 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 VIR bear put spread priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 62.20%), the computed maximum profit is $10.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$90.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a VIR bear put spread?
- The breakeven for the VIR bear put spread priced on this page is roughly $8.10 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 VIR market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 17.83%; 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 VIR?
- Bear put spreads on VIR reduce the cost of a bearish VIR 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 VIR implied volatility affect this bear put spread?
- VIR ATM IV is at 62.20% with IV rank near 8.95%, 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.