BCAB Butterfly Strategy
BCAB (BioAtla, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
BioAtla, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, develops specific and selective antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of solid tumor cancer. Its lead product candidate is BA3011, a conditionally active biologic (CAB) antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) for soft tissue and bone sarcoma tumors, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and ovarian cancer. It also develops BA3021, a CAB ADC for multiple solid tumor types, including NSCLC, melanoma, and ovarian cancer; and BA3071, which is a CAB anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 antibody for renal cell carcinoma, NSCLC, small cell lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, melanoma, bladder cancer, gastric cancer, and cervical cancer. BioAtla, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is based in San Diego, California.
BCAB (BioAtla, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $5.2M, a beta of 0.79 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 3.92-71.5, average daily share volume of 40K, a public-listing history dating back to 2020, approximately 61 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how BCAB stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.79 places BCAB roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a butterfly on BCAB?
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 BCAB snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $4.28, ATM IV 59.20%, IV rank 8.41%, expected move 16.97%. The butterfly on BCAB 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 63-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on BCAB specifically: BCAB IV at 59.20% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a BCAB butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 16.97% (roughly $0.73 on the underlying). The 63-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated BCAB expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on BCAB should anchor to the underlying notional of $4.28 per share and to the trader's directional view on BCAB stock.
BCAB butterfly setup
The BCAB 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 BCAB near $4.28, the first option leg uses a $4.07 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed BCAB chain at a 63-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 BCAB shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $4.07 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $4.28 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $4.49 | N/A |
BCAB 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.
BCAB butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on BCAB. 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 BCAB
Butterflies on BCAB are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect BCAB 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.
BCAB thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for BCAB extends from approximately $3.55 on the downside to $5.01 on the upside. A BCAB long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if BCAB settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current BCAB IV rank near 8.41% 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 BCAB at 59.20%. As a Healthcare name, BCAB options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to BCAB-specific events.
BCAB 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. BCAB positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move BCAB alongside the broader basket even when BCAB-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current BCAB chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on BCAB?
- A butterfly on BCAB is the butterfly strategy applied to BCAB (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 BCAB stock trading near $4.28, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed BCAB chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are BCAB 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 BCAB butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 59.20%), 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 BCAB butterfly?
- The breakeven for the BCAB 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 BCAB market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 16.97%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on BCAB?
- Butterflies on BCAB are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect BCAB 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 BCAB implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- BCAB ATM IV is at 59.20% with IV rank near 8.41%, 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.