URTH Butterfly Strategy
URTH (iShares MSCI World ETF), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management industry), listed on AMEX.
The iShares MSCI World ETF seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of developed market equities.
URTH (iShares MSCI World ETF) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management, with a market capitalization of approximately $8.11B, a beta of 0.97 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 159.63-201.88, average daily share volume of 994K, a public-listing history dating back to 2012. These structural characteristics shape how URTH etf options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.97 places URTH roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. URTH pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on URTH?
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 URTH snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $200.81, ATM IV 14.30%, IV rank 2.76%, expected move 4.10%. The butterfly on URTH 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 URTH specifically: URTH IV at 14.30% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a URTH butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 4.10% (roughly $8.23 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 URTH expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on URTH should anchor to the underlying notional of $200.81 per share and to the trader's directional view on URTH etf.
URTH butterfly setup
The URTH 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 URTH near $200.81, the first option leg uses a $190.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed URTH 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 URTH shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $190.00 | $12.00 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $200.00 | $3.75 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $210.00 | $0.43 |
URTH butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$493.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $487.59
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$493.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $194.93, $205.07
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.989
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.
URTH butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on URTH. 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% | -$493.00 |
| $44.41 | -77.9% | -$493.00 |
| $88.81 | -55.8% | -$493.00 |
| $133.21 | -33.7% | -$493.00 |
| $177.61 | -11.6% | -$493.00 |
| $222.01 | +10.6% | -$493.00 |
| $266.40 | +32.7% | -$493.00 |
| $310.80 | +54.8% | -$493.00 |
| $355.20 | +76.9% | -$493.00 |
| $399.60 | +99.0% | -$493.00 |
When traders use butterfly on URTH
Butterflies on URTH are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect URTH 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.
URTH thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for URTH extends from approximately $192.58 on the downside to $209.04 on the upside. A URTH long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if URTH settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current URTH IV rank near 2.76% 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 URTH at 14.30%. As a Financial Services name, URTH options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to URTH-specific events.
URTH 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. URTH positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move URTH alongside the broader basket even when URTH-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current URTH chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on URTH?
- A butterfly on URTH is the butterfly strategy applied to URTH (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 URTH etf trading near $200.81, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed URTH chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are URTH 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 URTH butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 14.30%), the computed maximum profit is $487.59 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$493.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a URTH butterfly?
- The breakeven for the URTH butterfly priced on this page is roughly $194.93 and $205.07 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 URTH market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 4.10%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on URTH?
- Butterflies on URTH are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect URTH 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 URTH implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- URTH ATM IV is at 14.30% with IV rank near 2.76%, 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.