ABCL Butterfly Strategy
ABCL (AbCellera Biologics Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
AbCellera Biologics Inc. develops antibody discovery platform. Its full-stack, artificial intelligence-powered antibody discovery platform searches and analyzes the database of natural immune systems to find antibodies that could be developed as drugs. As of December 31, 2021, the company had 156 discovery programs that are either completed, in progress, or under contract with 36 partners. AbCellera Biologics Inc. has a research collaboration and license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.
ABCL (AbCellera Biologics Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.46B, a beta of 1.03 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 1.94-6.515, average daily share volume of 5.0M, a public-listing history dating back to 2020, approximately 596 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how ABCL stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.03 places ABCL roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a butterfly on ABCL?
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 ABCL snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $4.12, ATM IV 86.70%, IV rank 11.05%, expected move 24.86%. The butterfly on ABCL 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 ABCL specifically: ABCL IV at 86.70% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a ABCL butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 24.86% (roughly $1.02 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 ABCL expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on ABCL should anchor to the underlying notional of $4.12 per share and to the trader's directional view on ABCL stock.
ABCL butterfly setup
The ABCL 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 ABCL near $4.12, the first option leg uses a $3.91 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed ABCL 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 ABCL shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $3.91 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $4.12 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $4.33 | N/A |
ABCL butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- N/A
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Breakeven(s)
- None on modeled curve
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- N/A
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.
ABCL butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on ABCL. 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.
When traders use butterfly on ABCL
Butterflies on ABCL are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect ABCL 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.
ABCL thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for ABCL extends from approximately $3.10 on the downside to $5.14 on the upside. A ABCL long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if ABCL settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current ABCL IV rank near 11.05% 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 ABCL at 86.70%. As a Healthcare name, ABCL options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to ABCL-specific events.
ABCL 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. ABCL positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move ABCL alongside the broader basket even when ABCL-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current ABCL chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on ABCL?
- A butterfly on ABCL is the butterfly strategy applied to ABCL (stock). 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 ABCL stock trading near $4.12, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed ABCL chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are ABCL 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 ABCL butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 86.70%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is unbounded per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a ABCL butterfly?
- The breakeven for the ABCL butterfly priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve 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 ABCL market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 24.86%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on ABCL?
- Butterflies on ABCL are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect ABCL 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 ABCL implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- ABCL ATM IV is at 86.70% with IV rank near 11.05%, 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.