ACEL Butterfly Strategy
ACEL (Accel Entertainment, Inc.), in the Consumer Cyclical sector, (Gambling, Resorts & Casinos industry), listed on NYSE.
Accel Entertainment, Inc., in conjunction with its subsidiary entities, functions as a leading distributed gaming operator across the United States. The company's primary activities involve the installation, upkeep, and operation of gaming terminals, redemption devices—which facilitate prize disbursement and include automated teller machine (ATM) capabilities—and various other amusement machines. These services are provided in approved non-casino settings, such as eateries, bars, taverns, convenience and liquor stores, truck stops, and grocery stores. Accel also furnishes its licensed business partners with gaming solutions specifically crafted to appeal to their customer base. Beyond gaming, the firm manages independent ATM placements in both gaming and general locations, alongside a selection of entertainment equipment including jukeboxes, dartboards, pool tables, pinball machines, and other recreational devices. As of December 31, 2021, Accel Entertainment oversaw 13,639 video gaming terminals spread throughout 2,584 distinct locations in Illinois.
ACEL (Accel Entertainment, Inc.) trades in the Consumer Cyclical sector, specifically Gambling, Resorts & Casinos, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.00B, a trailing P/E of 17.86, a beta of 1.02 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 9.55-14, average daily share volume of 314K, a public-listing history dating back to 2017, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how ACEL stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.02 places ACEL roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a butterfly on ACEL?
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.
ACEL snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $12.52, ATM IV 78.90%, IV rank 27.29%, expected move 9.96%. The butterfly on ACEL below is built from the end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 35-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on ACEL specifically: ACEL IV at 78.90% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a ACEL butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 9.96% (roughly $1.25 on the underlying). The 35-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated ACEL expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on ACEL should anchor to the underlying notional of $12.52 per share and to the trader's directional view on ACEL stock.
ACEL butterfly setup
The ACEL 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 ACEL at $12.52 on that close, the first option leg uses a $11.89 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed ACEL chain at a 35-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 ACEL shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $11.89 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $12.52 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $13.15 | N/A |
ACEL 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.
ACEL butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on ACEL. 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 ACEL
Butterflies on ACEL are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect ACEL 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.
ACEL thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for ACEL extends from approximately $11.27 on the downside to $13.77 on the upside. A ACEL long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if ACEL settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current ACEL IV rank near 27.29% 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 ACEL at 78.90%. As a Consumer Cyclical name, ACEL options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to ACEL-specific events.
ACEL 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. ACEL positions also carry Consumer Cyclical sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move ACEL alongside the broader basket even when ACEL-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current ACEL chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on ACEL?
- A butterfly on ACEL is the butterfly strategy applied to ACEL (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 ACEL stock at $12.52 on the most recent close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed ACEL chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are ACEL 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 ACEL butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 78.90%), 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 ACEL butterfly?
- The breakeven for the ACEL butterfly priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve at expiration, derived from the end-of-day chain's premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The ACEL market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 9.96%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on ACEL?
- Butterflies on ACEL are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect ACEL 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 ACEL implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- ACEL ATM IV is at 78.90% with IV rank near 27.29%, 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.