VLO Cash-Secured Put Strategy
VLO (Valero Energy Corporation), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing industry), listed on NYSE.
Valero Energy Corporation manufactures, markets, and sells transportation fuels and petrochemical products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol. It produces conventional, premium, and reformulated gasolines; gasoline meeting the specifications of the California Air Resources Board (CARB); diesel fuels, and low-sulfur and ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuels; CARB diesel; other distillates; jet fuels; blendstocks; and asphalts, petrochemicals, lubricants, and other refined petroleum products, as well as sells lube oils and natural gas liquids. As of December 31, 2021, the company owned 15 petroleum refineries with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3.2 million barrels per day; and 12 ethanol plants with a combined ethanol production capacity of approximately 1.6 billion gallons per year. It sells its refined products through wholesale rack and bulk markets; and through approximately 7,000 outlets under the Valero, Beacon, Diamond Shamrock, Shamrock, Ultramar, and Texaco brands. The company also produces and sells ethanol, dry distiller grains, syrup, and inedible corn oil primarily to animal feed customers.
VLO (Valero Energy Corporation) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing, with a market capitalization of approximately $72.48B, a trailing P/E of 17.29, a beta of 0.57 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 125.1-258.43, average daily share volume of 3.7M, a public-listing history dating back to 1982, approximately 10K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how VLO stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.57 indicates VLO has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. VLO 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 VLO?
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 VLO snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $249.44, ATM IV 40.46%, IV rank 56.86%, expected move 11.60%. The cash-secured put on VLO 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 VLO specifically: VLO IV at 40.46% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a VLO cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 11.60% (roughly $28.94 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 VLO expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on VLO should anchor to the underlying notional of $249.44 per share and to the trader's directional view on VLO stock.
VLO cash-secured put setup
The VLO 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 VLO near $249.44, the first option leg uses a $235.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed VLO 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 VLO shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $235.00 | $5.20 |
VLO cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$520.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $520.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$22,979.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $229.80
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.023
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
VLO cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on VLO. 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% | -$22,979.00 |
| $55.16 | -77.9% | -$17,463.85 |
| $110.31 | -55.8% | -$11,948.71 |
| $165.46 | -33.7% | -$6,433.56 |
| $220.62 | -11.6% | -$918.42 |
| $275.77 | +10.6% | +$520.00 |
| $330.92 | +32.7% | +$520.00 |
| $386.07 | +54.8% | +$520.00 |
| $441.22 | +76.9% | +$520.00 |
| $496.37 | +99.0% | +$520.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on VLO
Cash-secured puts on VLO earn premium while a trader waits to acquire VLO stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning VLO.
VLO thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for VLO extends from approximately $220.50 on the downside to $278.38 on the upside. A VLO cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire VLO 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 VLO IV rank near 56.86% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put thesis on VLO should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Energy name, VLO options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to VLO-specific events.
VLO 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. VLO positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move VLO alongside the broader basket even when VLO-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on VLO carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical VLO earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current VLO chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on VLO?
- A cash-secured put on VLO is the cash-secured put strategy applied to VLO (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 VLO stock trading near $249.44, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed VLO chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are VLO 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 VLO cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 40.46%), the computed maximum profit is $520.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$22,979.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a VLO cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the VLO cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $229.80 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 VLO market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 11.60%; 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 VLO?
- Cash-secured puts on VLO earn premium while a trader waits to acquire VLO stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning VLO.
- How does current VLO implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- VLO ATM IV is at 40.46% with IV rank near 56.86%, 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.