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Cash-secured put calculator

A cash-secured put means selling a put option while holding enough cash to buy 100 shares at the strike. You collect a premium now. In return, if the stock ends below the strike price at expiration, the option is exercised and you buy 100 shares at the strike price.

Your trade

$

What one share is worth now. Used to flag a strike above the market.

$

The price you agree to buy shares at.

$

Dollars per share you collect for selling the put.

days

Calendar days until the option expires.

Whole number. One contract covers 100 shares.

Premium is per share. A quote of 2.00 pays $200 for one contract. Starting numbers are examples. Replace them with your own.

Results for one contract (100 shares)

Capital required--

Cash set aside to buy the shares at the strike. Strike times 100 times the number of contracts.

Max profit--

The premium you collect. You keep all of it if the put expires unexercised.

Return on capital--

Premium divided by the strike price: your max profit as a share of the cash set aside. Not annualized.

Annualized return--

That return scaled to a full year. A simple estimate that assumes you repeat the trade, not a forecast.

Breakeven price--

Strike minus premium. Below this at expiration, the trade loses money.

Assignment price--

The price per share you pay if the put is exercised, which is the strike. Your effective cost basis is lower: it equals the breakeven.

What happens at expiration

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Plain-English terms

Option contract
An agreement that covers 100 shares of a stock.
Strike price
The price written into the contract. It is the price shares change hands at if the option is exercised.
Premium
The money the option seller collects up front. You keep it no matter what happens next.
Days to expiration (DTE)
How many calendar days remain before the contract ends.
Assignment
When the buyer exercises the option and you must carry out your side of the deal: buy shares. Most exercise happens at expiration, but the buyer can also exercise early.
Breakeven
The share price at expiration where the position neither makes nor loses money.
Annualized return
A single period's return scaled up to one year. It assumes you could repeat the same trade all year, which is not guaranteed.
Covered
You own the 100 shares the call is written against.
Cash-secured
You hold enough cash to buy 100 shares at the strike if assigned.
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Cash-secured put guides by ticker

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