Naked Put Screener
The Naked Put screener lists puts on the stocks we track for selling: the bid, time premium, breakeven and downside cushion, a backtest of similar puts on the same stock over the last 4 years, a theoretical value and edge from the stock's past moves, and the amount at risk after large drops. Premium and Premium Options members get the full list and the filters; everyone else sees the first 10 rows.
What is a naked put screener?
Selling a put brings in a premium now. If the stock stays above the strike until expiration, the put expires worthless and the seller keeps the premium. If the stock falls below the strike, the seller can be assigned and has to buy the shares at the strike, which can mean a loss. A naked put is a put sold on its own, not covered by a short stock position or another put; when the seller sets aside enough cash to buy the shares, it is often called a cash-secured put. The Naked Put screener lists puts on the stocks we track, one row per option, with the premium, the risk and how selling similar puts on the same stock went in the past.
How the puts are measured
- Which stocks. Stocks with active options: at least 1,000 option contracts traded today, or an average of 800 a day over the last 90 days. Expirations go out about 3 years.
- Premium from the bid. Put Bid is what a seller could collect now. $ Time Premium is the bid minus the put's intrinsic value, and % Time Premium divides it by the stock price.
- Breakeven and cushion. The breakeven is the strike minus the bid: sell the 95 put for $1.00 and the breakeven is $94. Downside Cushion is how far, in percent, the stock can fall from today's price before it reaches the breakeven.
- Moneyness. The strike's distance from the stock price as a percentage of the stock price. For puts, a negative number is out of the money: a 95 strike with the stock at $100 is -5%.
- Backtest. Naked Put Win Rate and Avg Return come from past puts on the same stock with a similar delta and the same number of days to expiration, sold at the bid and held to expiration, over the last 4 years. Each return is measured against the strike minus the premium, the cash a seller would need to buy the shares. # Obs is how many there were; the results show when there are at least 20. Stock Only Win Rate and Avg Return show how the stock itself did over the same periods.
- Theoretical value. On the Distribution & Theo tab, Theo Value is what the put was worth on average at expiration, given how the stock moved over past periods as long as the time left, 4 years of history by default (2 or 6 to choose), matched for earnings. Theo Edge is the bid minus that value, as a percentage of the risk amount below, and % Win Rate is how often selling the put at today's bid would have made money. These columns are filled in for expirations up to about 8 months out.
- Amount at risk. A sold put can lose much more than its premium. The Amount at Risk tab shows the loss after a 20% drop, a 3-standard-deviation drop and the largest past drop over the same holding period. Risk Amount is the largest of the three, at least $1.00, and If Flat % Return Against Drawdown measures the return if the stock is unchanged against that amount.
- Updates. We rebuild the rows every few minutes during the trading day, starting about 20 minutes after the 9:30 AM ET open. Before the open, and on weekends and holidays, the page shows the last trading day, with its date above the table.
The most a put seller can lose is the strike minus the premium, per share, if the stock goes to zero. Backtests and theoretical values describe the past, not what the stock will do next.
What you can find out
Which out-of-the-money puts could I sell, and how far is the stock from the strike?
Set Moneyness to an out-of-the-money range, such as -15% to -5%, or filter on Delta. Downside Cushion shows how far the stock can fall before the trade loses money. What delta means
How often did selling a similar put on this stock work?
The Main & Backtest tab shows the naked put win rate and average return from past puts with a similar delta and time to expiration over the last 4 years, next to the stock's own results. # Observations sets a minimum sample. See the backtest columns
How much could I lose in a big drop?
The Amount at Risk tab shows the loss after a 20% drop, a 3-standard-deviation drop and the largest past drop over the same holding period. How put protection works
Is there an earnings report or dividend before expiration?
The Earnings Date, Ex-Dividend and Company Event filters keep or drop puts with an event before expiration, and the Earnings & Dividends tab shows the dates. How earnings affect option prices
Where to find it
Menu: Screeners › For Premium Users › Single-Leg Strategies › Naked Puts, or go straight to /Screeners/NakedPuts. The table opens on the Main & Backtest tab for the next monthly expiration, sorted by % Time Premium.
Premium and Premium Options members see the full list, 25 rows to a page, and can use the filters, search, sorting, saved filters, Refresh and the download. Everyone else sees the first 10 rows, without filters or search.
What the columns mean
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Symbol, Stock Price, Market Cap | The stock, its price and the company's market value |
| Expiration, Days to Exp, Strike | The put, with the business days left until it expires |
| Put Bid, Put Ask, Delta | The put's quotes and its delta |
| Moneyness (Distance from Stock) | Strike against the stock price; negative is out of the money |
| Option IV Rank | Where the put's implied volatility sits against its own history |
| Breakeven Price, Downside Cushion to Breakeven | Strike minus the bid, and the % fall from today's price to reach it |
| $ Time Premium, % Time Premium | The bid minus intrinsic value, in dollars and as a percent of the stock price |
| If Flat % Return Against Drawdown | The return if the stock is unchanged at expiration, against the risk amount |
| # Obs, Naked Put Win Rate, Naked Put Avg Return | Backtest of similar puts on the same stock over the last 4 years |
| Stock Only Win Rate, Stock Only Avg Return | How the stock did over the same backtest periods |
| Theo Value, Theo Edge, % Win Rate, Probability of Touch | From the stock's past moves: the put's average value, its edge, how often selling it won, and how often the stock touched the breakeven price along the way |
| Risk Amount, 20% Move, 3 Std Dev Move, Hist. Max Move | The loss in each scenario, and the largest of them |
| Greeks and volatility | Delta, gamma, theta, vega, rho, the put's IV, and the stock's 20-day and 1-year historical volatility |
FAQ
- Is a naked put the same as a cash-secured put?
- The trade is the same: a put sold on its own. It is called cash-secured when the seller keeps enough cash to buy the shares at the strike if assigned; otherwise it is held on margin, which brokers require and can raise if the stock falls.
- How is the breakeven worked out?
- The strike minus the premium. Sell the 95 put for $1.00 and the breakeven at expiration is $94; below it the trade loses money.
- What does the backtest show?
- How selling puts with a similar delta and the same number of days to expiration did on the same stock over the last 4 years, held to expiration: how often they made money and the average return against the strike minus the premium, next to the stock's own results.
- What is the Risk Amount?
- The largest of three losses: after a 20% drop, after a 3-standard-deviation drop and after the largest past drop over the same holding period, with a $1.00 minimum. Theo Edge and the If Flat return are measured against it.
- Who can use the Naked Put screener?
- Premium and Premium Options members, with all the filters, search, sorting, saved filters and the download. Everyone else sees the first 10 rows, without filters or search.
- Is a put with a high win rate a recommendation?
- No. A put seller can lose far more than the premium in a sharp drop; the backtest and theoretical values describe the past, not the next move.
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