AUR Butterfly Strategy
AUR (Aurora Innovation, Inc.), in the Technology sector, (Information Technology Services industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Aurora Innovation, Inc. operates as a self-driving technology company in the United States. It focuses on developing Aurora Driver, a platform that brings a suite of self-driving hardware, software, and data services together to adapt and interoperate passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles, and trucks. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
AUR (Aurora Innovation, Inc.) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Information Technology Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $16.46B, a beta of 2.59 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 3.6-8.565, average daily share volume of 21.3M, a public-listing history dating back to 2021, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how AUR stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 2.59 indicates AUR has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position.
What is a butterfly on AUR?
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 AUR snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $7.78, ATM IV 78.81%, IV rank 40.53%, expected move 22.59%. The butterfly on AUR 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 AUR specifically: AUR IV at 78.81% 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 22.59% (roughly $1.76 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 AUR expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on AUR should anchor to the underlying notional of $7.78 per share and to the trader's directional view on AUR stock.
AUR butterfly setup
The AUR 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 AUR near $7.78, the first option leg uses a $7.50 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed AUR 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 AUR shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $7.50 | $0.80 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $8.00 | $0.58 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $8.00 | $0.58 |
AUR butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$22.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $27.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$22.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $7.73
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.222
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.
AUR butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on AUR. 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 | -99.9% | -$22.50 |
| $1.73 | -77.8% | -$22.50 |
| $3.45 | -55.7% | -$22.50 |
| $5.17 | -33.6% | -$22.50 |
| $6.89 | -11.5% | -$22.50 |
| $8.61 | +10.6% | +$27.50 |
| $10.32 | +32.7% | +$27.50 |
| $12.04 | +54.8% | +$27.50 |
| $13.76 | +76.9% | +$27.50 |
| $15.48 | +99.0% | +$27.50 |
When traders use butterfly on AUR
Butterflies on AUR are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect AUR 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.
AUR thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for AUR extends from approximately $6.02 on the downside to $9.54 on the upside. A AUR long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if AUR settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current AUR IV rank near 40.53% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on AUR should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Technology name, AUR options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to AUR-specific events.
AUR 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. AUR positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move AUR alongside the broader basket even when AUR-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current AUR chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on AUR?
- A butterfly on AUR is the butterfly strategy applied to AUR (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 AUR stock trading near $7.78, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed AUR chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are AUR 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 AUR butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 78.81%), the computed maximum profit is $27.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$22.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a AUR butterfly?
- The breakeven for the AUR butterfly priced on this page is roughly $7.73 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 AUR market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 22.59%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on AUR?
- Butterflies on AUR are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect AUR 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 AUR implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- AUR ATM IV is at 78.81% with IV rank near 40.53%, 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.