ALT Butterfly Strategy
ALT (Altimmune, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Altimmune, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing treatments for obesity and liver diseases. The company's lead product candidate, pemvidutide (proposed INN, formerly known as ALT-801), is a GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist that is in Phase 1b trial for the treatment of obesity and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. It is also developing HepTcell, an immunotherapeutic product candidate, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for patients chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus. The company was formerly known as Vaxin Inc. and changed its name to Altimmune, Inc. in September 2015. Altimmune, Inc. was founded in 1997 is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
ALT (Altimmune, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $266.5M, a beta of 0.17 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 2.56-7.73, average daily share volume of 4.0M, a public-listing history dating back to 2017, approximately 59 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how ALT stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.17 indicates ALT has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure.
What is a butterfly on ALT?
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 ALT snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $2.87, ATM IV 65.31%, IV rank 5.05%, expected move 18.72%. The butterfly on ALT 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 28-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on ALT specifically: ALT IV at 65.31% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a ALT butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 18.72% (roughly $0.54 on the underlying). The 28-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated ALT expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on ALT should anchor to the underlying notional of $2.87 per share and to the trader's directional view on ALT stock.
ALT butterfly setup
The ALT 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 ALT near $2.87, the first option leg uses a $2.73 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed ALT chain at a 28-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 ALT shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $2.73 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $2.87 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $3.01 | N/A |
ALT 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.
ALT butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on ALT. 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 ALT
Butterflies on ALT are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect ALT 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.
ALT thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for ALT extends from approximately $2.33 on the downside to $3.41 on the upside. A ALT long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if ALT settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current ALT IV rank near 5.05% 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 ALT at 65.31%. As a Healthcare name, ALT options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to ALT-specific events.
ALT 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. ALT positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move ALT alongside the broader basket even when ALT-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current ALT chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on ALT?
- A butterfly on ALT is the butterfly strategy applied to ALT (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 ALT stock trading near $2.87, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed ALT chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are ALT 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 ALT butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 65.31%), 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 ALT butterfly?
- The breakeven for the ALT 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 ALT market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 18.72%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on ALT?
- Butterflies on ALT are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect ALT 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 ALT implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- ALT ATM IV is at 65.31% with IV rank near 5.05%, 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.