AGQ Butterfly Strategy
AGQ (ProShares - Ultra Silver), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management - Leveraged industry), listed on AMEX.
ProShares Ultra Silver aims to deliver daily returns that mirror double (2x) the daily movements of the Bloomberg Silver Subindex. This calculation is made prior to the deduction of any fees or operational costs.
AGQ (ProShares - Ultra Silver) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management - Leveraged, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.40B, a beta of 0.97 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 49.67-431.47, average daily share volume of 2.9M, a public-listing history dating back to 2008. These structural characteristics shape how AGQ etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.97 places AGQ roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a butterfly on AGQ?
A long call butterfly buys one lower-strike call, sells two ATM calls, and buys one higher-strike call, paying a small net debit for a defined-risk position that maxes out if the underlying pins the middle strike at expiration.
AGQ snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $79.41, ATM IV 80.61%, IV rank 20.19%, expected move 23.11%. The butterfly on AGQ below is built from the August 14, 2026 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 butterfly structure on AGQ specifically: AGQ IV at 80.61% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a AGQ butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 23.11% (roughly $18.35 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 AGQ expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on AGQ should anchor to the underlying notional of $79.41 per share and to the trader's directional view on AGQ etf.
AGQ butterfly setup
The AGQ butterfly below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With AGQ at $79.41 on that close, the first option leg uses a $75.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed AGQ 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 AGQ shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $75.00 | $9.95 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $79.00 | $7.90 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $83.50 | $5.40 |
AGQ butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$45.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $443.40
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$5.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $83.72
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 88.680
Max profit equals the wing width minus net debit times 100 (reached when the underlying pins the middle strike); max loss equals the net debit times 100. Two breakevens at lower-wing plus debit and upper-wing minus debit.
AGQ butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on AGQ. 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% | +$45.00 |
| $17.57 | -77.9% | +$45.00 |
| $35.12 | -55.8% | +$45.00 |
| $52.68 | -33.7% | +$45.00 |
| $70.24 | -11.6% | +$45.00 |
| $87.79 | +10.6% | -$5.00 |
| $105.35 | +32.7% | -$5.00 |
| $122.91 | +54.8% | -$5.00 |
| $140.47 | +76.9% | -$5.00 |
| $158.02 | +99.0% | -$5.00 |
When traders use butterfly on AGQ
Butterflies on AGQ are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect AGQ to settle near a specific level at expiration (often the prior close, a round number, or the max-pain strike) and want defined-risk exposure to that outcome.
AGQ thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for AGQ extends from approximately $61.06 on the downside to $97.76 on the upside. A AGQ long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if AGQ settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current AGQ IV rank near 20.19% 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 AGQ at 80.61%. As a Financial Services name, AGQ options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to AGQ-specific events.
AGQ butterfly positions are structurally neutral / pin (limited-risk, limited-reward); 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. AGQ positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move AGQ alongside the broader basket even when AGQ-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current AGQ chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on AGQ?
- A butterfly on AGQ is the butterfly strategy applied to AGQ (etf). The strategy is structurally neutral / pin (limited-risk, limited-reward): A long call butterfly buys one lower-strike call, sells two ATM calls, and buys one higher-strike call, paying a small net debit for a defined-risk position that maxes out if the underlying pins the middle strike at expiration. With AGQ etf at $79.41 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed AGQ chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are AGQ butterfly max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals the wing width minus net debit times 100 (reached when the underlying pins the middle strike); max loss equals the net debit times 100. Two breakevens at lower-wing plus debit and upper-wing minus debit. For the AGQ butterfly priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 80.61%), the computed maximum profit is $443.40 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$5.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a AGQ butterfly?
- The breakeven for the AGQ butterfly priced on this page is roughly $83.72 at expiration, derived from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain's premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The AGQ market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 23.11%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on AGQ?
- Butterflies on AGQ are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect AGQ to settle near a specific level at expiration (often the prior close, a round number, or the max-pain strike) and want defined-risk exposure to that outcome.
- How does current AGQ implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- AGQ ATM IV is at 80.61% with IV rank near 20.19%, 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.