CTA Butterfly Strategy
CTA (Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management industry), listed on AMEX.
The Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF (CTA) seeks long term capital appreciation by systematically investing in futures in an attempt to create an absolute return profile, that also has a low correlation to equities, and can provide support in risk-off events. To this end, CTA deploys a suite of systematic models that have been designed by Altis Partners, a commodity trading advisor with over 20 years of experience.
CTA (Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.74B, a beta of -0.13 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 26.36-32.71, average daily share volume of 762K, a public-listing history dating back to 2022. These structural characteristics shape how CTA etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of -0.13 indicates CTA has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. CTA pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on CTA?
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.
Current CTA snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $32.02, ATM IV 30.00%, IV rank 4.40%, expected move 8.60%. The butterfly on CTA 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 34-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on CTA specifically: CTA IV at 30.00% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CTA butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 8.60% (roughly $2.75 on the underlying). The 34-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated CTA expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CTA should anchor to the underlying notional of $32.02 per share and to the trader's directional view on CTA etf.
CTA butterfly setup
The CTA butterfly below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With CTA near $32.02, the first option leg uses a $30.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CTA chain at a 34-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 CTA shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $30.00 | $2.28 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $32.00 | $1.23 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $34.00 | $0.46 |
CTA butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$28.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $157.91
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$28.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $30.29, $33.72
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 5.541
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.
CTA butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on CTA. 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% | -$28.50 |
| $7.09 | -77.9% | -$28.50 |
| $14.17 | -55.8% | -$28.50 |
| $21.25 | -33.6% | -$28.50 |
| $28.32 | -11.5% | -$28.50 |
| $35.40 | +10.6% | -$28.50 |
| $42.48 | +32.7% | -$28.50 |
| $49.56 | +54.8% | -$28.50 |
| $56.64 | +76.9% | -$28.50 |
| $63.72 | +99.0% | -$28.50 |
When traders use butterfly on CTA
Butterflies on CTA are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CTA 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.
CTA thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CTA extends from approximately $29.27 on the downside to $34.77 on the upside. A CTA long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if CTA settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current CTA IV rank near 4.40% 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 CTA at 30.00%. As a Financial Services name, CTA options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CTA-specific events.
CTA 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. CTA positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CTA alongside the broader basket even when CTA-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CTA chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on CTA?
- A butterfly on CTA is the butterfly strategy applied to CTA (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 CTA etf trading near $32.02, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CTA chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CTA 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 CTA butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 30.00%), the computed maximum profit is $157.91 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$28.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CTA butterfly?
- The breakeven for the CTA butterfly priced on this page is roughly $30.29 and $33.72 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 CTA market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 8.60%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on CTA?
- Butterflies on CTA are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CTA 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 CTA implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- CTA ATM IV is at 30.00% with IV rank near 4.40%, 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.