URNJ Butterfly Strategy
URNJ (Sprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management industry), listed on NASDAQ.
The fund will, under normal circumstances, invest at least 80% of its total assets in securities of the index. The index is designed to track the performance of companies that derive at least 50% of their revenue and/or assets from (i) mining, exploration, development, and production of uranium; (ii) earning uranium royalties; and/or (iii) supplying uranium. The index generally consists of from 30 to 40 constituents. The fund is non-diversified.
URNJ (Sprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management, with a market capitalization of approximately $285.7M, a beta of 1.21 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 15.54-40.81, average daily share volume of 385K, a public-listing history dating back to 2023. These structural characteristics shape how URNJ etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.21 places URNJ roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. URNJ pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on URNJ?
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 URNJ snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $27.69, ATM IV 63.40%, IV rank 43.20%, expected move 18.18%. The butterfly on URNJ 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 URNJ specifically: URNJ IV at 63.40% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so strategy selection should anchor more to the directional thesis than to the IV regime, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 18.18% (roughly $5.03 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 URNJ expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on URNJ should anchor to the underlying notional of $27.69 per share and to the trader's directional view on URNJ etf.
URNJ butterfly setup
The URNJ 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 URNJ near $27.69, the first option leg uses a $26.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed URNJ 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 URNJ shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $26.00 | $3.50 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $28.00 | $2.00 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $29.00 | $1.85 |
URNJ butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$135.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $53.76
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$135.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $27.35, $28.65
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.398
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.
URNJ butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on URNJ. 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% | -$135.00 |
| $6.13 | -77.9% | -$135.00 |
| $12.25 | -55.8% | -$135.00 |
| $18.37 | -33.6% | -$135.00 |
| $24.50 | -11.5% | -$135.00 |
| $30.62 | +10.6% | -$35.00 |
| $36.74 | +32.7% | -$35.00 |
| $42.86 | +54.8% | -$35.00 |
| $48.98 | +76.9% | -$35.00 |
| $55.10 | +99.0% | -$35.00 |
When traders use butterfly on URNJ
Butterflies on URNJ are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect URNJ 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.
URNJ thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for URNJ extends from approximately $22.66 on the downside to $32.72 on the upside. A URNJ long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if URNJ settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current URNJ IV rank near 43.20% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on URNJ should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Financial Services name, URNJ options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to URNJ-specific events.
URNJ 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. URNJ positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move URNJ alongside the broader basket even when URNJ-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current URNJ chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on URNJ?
- A butterfly on URNJ is the butterfly strategy applied to URNJ (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 URNJ etf trading near $27.69, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed URNJ chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are URNJ 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 URNJ butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 63.40%), the computed maximum profit is $53.76 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$135.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a URNJ butterfly?
- The breakeven for the URNJ butterfly priced on this page is roughly $27.35 and $28.65 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 URNJ market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 18.18%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on URNJ?
- Butterflies on URNJ are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect URNJ 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 URNJ implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- URNJ ATM IV is at 63.40% with IV rank near 43.20%, which is mid-range against its 1-year history. Strategy selection depends more on directional thesis and expected move than on a strong IV signal.