ASC Butterfly Strategy
ASC (Ardmore Shipping Corporation), in the Industrials sector, (Marine Shipping industry), listed on NYSE.
Ardmore Shipping Corporation engages in the seaborne transportation of petroleum products and chemicals worldwide. As of February 15, 2022, the company operated a fleet of 25 double-hulled product and chemical tankers. It serves oil majors, oil companies, oil and chemical traders, chemical companies, and pooling service providers. The company was founded in 2010 and is based in Pembroke, Bermuda.
ASC (Ardmore Shipping Corporation) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Marine Shipping, with a market capitalization of approximately $765.0M, a trailing P/E of 13.10, a beta of 0.02 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 9.18-20.03, average daily share volume of 735K, a public-listing history dating back to 2013, approximately 56 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how ASC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.02 indicates ASC has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. ASC pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on ASC?
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 ASC snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $18.93, ATM IV 45.10%, IV rank 41.39%, expected move 12.93%. The butterfly on ASC 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 ASC specifically: ASC IV at 45.10% 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 12.93% (roughly $2.45 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 ASC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on ASC should anchor to the underlying notional of $18.93 per share and to the trader's directional view on ASC stock.
ASC butterfly setup
The ASC 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 ASC near $18.93, the first option leg uses a $17.98 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed ASC 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 ASC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $17.98 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $18.93 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $19.88 | N/A |
ASC 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.
ASC butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on ASC. 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 ASC
Butterflies on ASC are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect ASC 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.
ASC thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for ASC extends from approximately $16.48 on the downside to $21.38 on the upside. A ASC long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if ASC settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current ASC IV rank near 41.39% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on ASC should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Industrials name, ASC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to ASC-specific events.
ASC 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. ASC positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move ASC alongside the broader basket even when ASC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current ASC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on ASC?
- A butterfly on ASC is the butterfly strategy applied to ASC (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 ASC stock trading near $18.93, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed ASC chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are ASC 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 ASC butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 45.10%), 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 ASC butterfly?
- The breakeven for the ASC 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 ASC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 12.93%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on ASC?
- Butterflies on ASC are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect ASC 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 ASC implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- ASC ATM IV is at 45.10% with IV rank near 41.39%, 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.