Selling cash-secured puts on TSLA
Retail's favorite vol product. IV in the 50s–70s is normal, the skew flips around sentiment, and the chain is liquid enough to trade four-legged structures at size. Anyone selling naked premium here should size like the stock can move 15% in a week, because it can.
A cash-secured put is a limit order you get paid to place. Sell the Aug 28 $295 put on TSLA and you collect $810 today for the obligation to buy 100 shares at $295. Set aside $29,500 to honour it and the premium is 2.7% over 27 days — 37% annualized.
The trade, priced from the chain
27d to August 28, 2026| Leg | Qty | Price | Δ | IV | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SellAug 28 $295 put | 1 | $8.10 | -0.32 | 44% | +$810 |
Every leg above is priced at the chain’s own quote — the identical number the builder will show you when you click through (last traded price), captured August 1, 2026 with a 15-minute delay. Only strikes whose print survives an implied-volatility check (within 20% of its own IV) and a no-arbitrage check across the ladder are priced here. Full methodology. Greeks, breakevens, max profit/loss and probability of profit are computed by OptionTracker’s engine at r = 4.2%. Educational analysis, not investment advice.
Yield on the capital this actually ties up
Annualized figures assume the same trade repeats every 27 days at the same premium. Nothing does. Use them to compare strikes and tickers, not to forecast a year.
How a cash-secured put works
Selling a put transfers the downside between $295 and zero to you, and you are paid $8.10 per share for taking it. "Cash-secured" simply means you hold the $29,500 required to buy the shares instead of leaning on margin. Same position, honest denominator.
At August 28, 2026: above $295 the put expires worthless and you keep $810 — that is the maximum this trade can make, $810. Below it you're assigned 100 shares at $295, with an effective cost basis of $286.9 once the credit is applied. That is 7.8% below where TSLA trades today.
The engine puts the probability of keeping the full credit at 74% on TSLA at $311.21 with 46% ATM implied vol on the Aug 28 expiry. High win rate, capped payoff, uncapped-to-zero loss — the risk profile of every short-premium trade. It is not free money; it is a rent cheque for underwriting someone else's insurance.
When it makes sense
- You genuinely want to own TSLA at $295 — because roughly 74% of the time you won't get the shares, and the rest of the time you will, at the worst possible moment.
- IV is elevated relative to realized. At 46% ATM, TSLA is the 6th richest of the 20 underlyings on this site.
- It is the entry leg of the wheel: sell puts until assigned, then sell calls against the shares.
- The buying power this consumes is capital you were not planning to deploy elsewhere before the expiry.
Where the risk actually is
Max loss is $28,690 — the strike, less the credit, times 100, if TSLA goes to zero. That number is not theoretical on single names; it is simply unlikely. Size the position against that figure, not against the premium.
Assignment is not the loss — being assigned at $295 when TSLA is at $236 is. If you are running the wheel, that is the moment the plan is tested: you own shares at a basis of $286.9 and the market disagrees.
The structural problem with short premium is not the loss rate, it is the loss SIZE. A long run of small wins funded by an occasional large loss looks like skill on a monthly statement and like variance on a five-year one.
Reading the TSLA chain
The credits look like a different asset class, and they are compensation, not edge. Tesla's realized vol has spent long stretches at or above its implied, which is the definition of a name where premium selling has no structural tailwind. Defined risk is not optional here: a naked short strangle on TSLA has produced account-ending weeks more than once.
TSLA's Aug 28 strikes are $5 apart near the money (1.61% of spot). On a ladder that wide, "pick the 0.30 delta strike" resolves to whichever rung happens to be closest — sometimes not close at all. 56k contracts of open interest on Aug 28 is workable around the money and thin in the wings — width costs more here than the ladder suggests. 36 strikes on that expiry — 49% of the board — carry prints that agree with their own implied volatility and hold up across the ladder, and those are the strikes priced here. Retail-deep at every strike and every weekly. Four-leg fills near mid are routine, even in the wings.
Skew is inverted: the 25-delta CALL implies 4.2% more vol than the put. That is the market pricing upside risk above downside risk — a squeeze, a takeover rumour, or a crowded short. Selling calls into an inverted skew pays better than usual and is riskier than usual for exactly the same reason. The term structure is flat inside 1.5% between the two captured expiries, so there is no calendar edge to harvest and no event visibly priced into one month over the other.
At 46% ATM implied vol, the Aug 28 options are pricing a one-standard-deviation move of $39.20 over 27 days — roughly −12.6% to +12.6%, or $272.01 to $350.41. Everything the cash-secured put above collects is rent on that range. If TSLA routinely covers 12.6% in 27 days, the credit is fair compensation rather than edge.
The specific way people lose money on TSLA: Treating a 60% IV as 'rich'. On this name that is the middle of the range, and the wings price fairly for a reason.
Picking the strike on TSLA
Put delta is the shorthand for assignment odds: a 0.30-delta put is roughly a 30% chance of being assigned at expiry. On TSLA at $311.21, here is what the bands buy you:
| Band | What it means | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| 0.10 – 0.16 Δ | Deep OTM, ~1 in 8 assignment | Pure premium harvesting. Small credits; one bad gap erases many wins.On TSLA: the Aug 28 $275 put at $3.32, 14% annualized |
| 0.20 – 0.30 Δ | The thetagang standard | Best balance of credit, cushion and assignment odds for a wheel entry.On TSLA: the Aug 28 $290 put at $6.45, 28% annualized |
| 0.40 – 0.50 Δ | Near the money | You want the shares. Largest credit, near coin-flip assignment.On TSLA: the Aug 28 $305 put at $12.10, 53% annualized |
| ITM | You will almost certainly be assigned | A synthetic buy order with extra steps. Compare against just buying the stock. |
The live Aug 28 put chain below shows real deltas and mids from the capture, with each strike's credit expressed as a percentage of the cash you must set aside. Compare the annualized column across strikes before you decide — the curve is rarely linear.
Across the nine rungs below, the premium runs 5.1× from the cheapest strike to the richest — that curve is the whole strike-selection decision, drawn. Open interest concentrates at $300 on this expiry, which is usually where the fills are cleanest.
| Strike | vs spot | Mid | Δ | IV | % of spot | Ann. | OI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $275 | −11.6% | $3.32 | -0.15 | 46% | 1.1% | 14% | 658 |
| $280 | −10.0% | $4.20 | -0.19 | 46% | 1.3% | 18% | 1.5k |
| $285 | −8.4% | $5.35 | -0.23 | 45% | 1.7% | 23% | 726 |
| $290 | −6.8% | $6.45 | -0.27 | 44% | 2.1% | 28% | 1.3k |
| $295used | −5.2% | $8.10 | -0.32 | 44% | 2.6% | 35% | 565 |
| $300 | −3.6% | $10.00 | -0.37 | 44% | 3.2% | 43% | 1.8k |
| $305 | −2.0% | $12.10 | -0.42 | 43% | 3.9% | 53% | 728 |
| $310 | −0.4% | $14.40 | -0.48 | 43% | 4.6% | 63% | 1.1k |
| $315 | +1.2% | $16.83 | -0.53 | 42% | 5.4% | 73% | 893 |
TSLA puts expiring August 28, 2026· 15-min delayed capture · “Ann.” annualizes the mid as a percentage of spot over 27 days.
Managing the position
- Roll down and out for a credit if the stock breaks your strike and you still want the exposure. Roll for a debit and you're just averaging into a losing thesis.
- If assigned, do not panic-sell the shares. You are now at the covered-call stage of the wheel with a basis of $286.9.
- Decide the exit before the fill. A short-premium position with no stated profit target and no stated loss point is not a trade, it is a subscription to whatever the market decides.
- Do not add to a tested position to lower the average. Averaging into short premium works right up until the one time it does not, and that time is the one that matters.
Common mistakes
Selling puts on a stock you don't want
The premium looks the same on every ticker; the assignment doesn't. If you would not buy 100 shares of TSLA at $295 with your own thesis, this is a naked short-vol bet, not an entry.
Selling through earnings without meaning to
A 27-day put on TSLA may straddle quarterly deliveries. If the credit looks unusually rich, that is why — check the calendar before assuming you found an edge.
Reading a high win rate as a good trade
A structure that wins 80% of the time and loses four times its credit when it fails has no edge at all. Expectancy is the number; hit rate is the marketing.
TSLA cash-secured put FAQ
How much cash do I need to sell a TSLA put?
Fully securing the Aug 28 $295 put takes $29,500 per contract — the strike times 100. Brokers will let you sell it on far less margin; that changes the risk, not the obligation.
Is selling puts on TSLA safer than buying the shares?
Slightly, and only below the strike. You give up all upside above $295 in exchange for 7.8% of downside cushion. Whether that trade is good depends entirely on whether 46% implied vol is expensive relative to what TSLA actually does.
How much is TSLA expected to move by Aug 28?
The Aug 28 options imply a one-standard-deviation move of $39.20 — about 12.6% of the TSLA share price — over the 27 days to expiry. That is the market's estimate, not a forecast: roughly a third of the time the actual move is larger.
Is TSLA option skew favouring puts or calls?
Calls. The 25-delta call implies 4.2% more volatility than the 25-delta put on the Aug 28 chain — an inverted skew, usually a sign of squeeze or event risk to the upside.
Build it yourself
Everything above is one construction at one moment. Open it in the builder to drag strikes along the ladder, scrub the expiry, and watch max profit, breakevens and probability of profit recompute live against the real TSLA chain — free, no account.
Related reading
- What a cash-secured put actually paysThe annualized-return column is the one everybody screenshots. It is also the one that tells you least. Here is the whole ladder — return, probability, breakeven, and the loss that takes six winners to repair.
- The wheel strategy, with real numbersEveryone can recite the four steps. Almost nobody can tell you what a completed cycle returned on the capital it tied up. Here is one, priced off a real chain and folded by the same engine that runs our tracker.
- Why closing at $0.01 is wrongRecording an expired option as a close at $0.01 costs almost nothing in dollars. What it does to assignment history, cost basis and your recorded win rate is a $599 hole in the middle of a wheel — here is the arithmetic.
Other TSLA strategies
- TSLA covered callSell upside on shares you already own and get paid for the cap.
- TSLA iron condorSell a range, buy the wings, collect if the stock stays put.
- TSLA bull call spreadBuy a call, sell a higher one — cheaper upside with a ceiling.
- TSLA bull put spreadSell a put spread below the market: credit now, defined risk.
- TSLA long straddleBuy the call and the put — pay for a move in either direction.
- TSLA long strangleOTM call plus OTM put — cheaper than a straddle, needs more move.
- TSLA long callDefined-risk upside with a deadline attached.
- TSLA long putDefined-risk downside, or insurance with an expiry date.
- TSLA calendar call spreadSell the near-dated call, buy the far one — rent time twice.
Cash-Secured Put on other tickers
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