FTA Butterfly Strategy
FTA (First Trust Large Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management industry), listed on NASDAQ.
The First Trust Large Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund is an exchange-traded fund. The investment objective of the Fund is to seek investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield, before fees and expenses, of an equity index called the Nasdaq AlphaDEX Large Cap Value Index.
FTA (First Trust Large Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.29B, a beta of 0.73 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 74.35-96.27, average daily share volume of 37K, a public-listing history dating back to 2007. These structural characteristics shape how FTA etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.73 places FTA roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. FTA pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on FTA?
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 FTA snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $92.13, ATM IV 9.40%, IV rank 0.00%, expected move 2.69%. The butterfly on FTA 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 FTA specifically: FTA IV at 9.40% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a FTA butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 2.69% (roughly $2.48 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 FTA expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on FTA should anchor to the underlying notional of $92.13 per share and to the trader's directional view on FTA etf.
FTA butterfly setup
The FTA 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 FTA near $92.13, the first option leg uses a $88.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed FTA 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 FTA shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $88.00 | $4.85 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $92.00 | $1.99 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $97.00 | $0.35 |
FTA butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$122.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $245.21
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$222.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $89.22, $94.78
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.105
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.
FTA butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on FTA. 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% | -$122.00 |
| $20.38 | -77.9% | -$122.00 |
| $40.75 | -55.8% | -$122.00 |
| $61.12 | -33.7% | -$122.00 |
| $81.49 | -11.6% | -$122.00 |
| $101.86 | +10.6% | -$222.00 |
| $122.23 | +32.7% | -$222.00 |
| $142.60 | +54.8% | -$222.00 |
| $162.96 | +76.9% | -$222.00 |
| $183.33 | +99.0% | -$222.00 |
When traders use butterfly on FTA
Butterflies on FTA are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect FTA 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.
FTA thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for FTA extends from approximately $89.65 on the downside to $94.61 on the upside. A FTA long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if FTA settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current FTA IV rank near 0.00% 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 FTA at 9.40%. As a Financial Services name, FTA options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to FTA-specific events.
FTA 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. FTA positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move FTA alongside the broader basket even when FTA-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current FTA chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on FTA?
- A butterfly on FTA is the butterfly strategy applied to FTA (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 FTA etf trading near $92.13, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed FTA chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are FTA 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 FTA butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 9.40%), the computed maximum profit is $245.21 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$222.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a FTA butterfly?
- The breakeven for the FTA butterfly priced on this page is roughly $89.22 and $94.78 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 FTA market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 2.69%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on FTA?
- Butterflies on FTA are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect FTA 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 FTA implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- FTA ATM IV is at 9.40% with IV rank near 0.00%, 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.