BMY Butterfly Strategy
BMY (Bristol-Myers Squibb Company), in the Healthcare sector, (Drug Manufacturers - General industry), listed on NYSE.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company discovers, develops, licenses, manufactures, and markets biopharmaceutical products worldwide. It offers products for hematology, oncology, cardiovascular, immunology, fibrotic, neuroscience, and covid-19 diseases. The company's products include Revlimid, an oral immunomodulatory drug for the treatment of multiple myeloma; Eliquis, an oral inhibitor for reduction in risk of stroke/systemic embolism in NVAF, and for the treatment of DVT/PE; Opdivo for anti-cancer indications; Pomalyst/Imnovid indicated for patients with multiple myeloma; and Orencia for adult patients with active RA and psoriatic arthritis. It also provides Sprycel for the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia; Yervoy for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma; Abraxane, a protein-bound chemotherapy product; Reblozyl for the treatment of anemia in adult patients with beta thalassemia; and Empliciti for the treatment of multiple myeloma. In addition, the company offers Zeposia to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis; Breyanzi, a CD19-directed genetically modified autologous T cell immunotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma; Inrebic, an oral kinase inhibitor indicated for the treatment of adult patients with myelofibrosis; and Onureg for the treatment of adult patients with AML. It sells products to wholesalers, distributors, pharmacies, retailers, hospitals, clinics, and government agencies.
BMY (Bristol-Myers Squibb Company) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Drug Manufacturers - General, with a market capitalization of approximately $115.15B, a trailing P/E of 15.84, a beta of 0.26 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 42.52-62.89, average daily share volume of 12.0M, a public-listing history dating back to 1972, approximately 34K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how BMY stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.26 indicates BMY has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. BMY pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on BMY?
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 BMY snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $56.98, ATM IV 25.91%, IV rank 28.67%, expected move 7.43%. The butterfly on BMY 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 BMY specifically: BMY IV at 25.91% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a BMY butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 7.43% (roughly $4.23 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 BMY expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on BMY should anchor to the underlying notional of $56.98 per share and to the trader's directional view on BMY stock.
BMY butterfly setup
The BMY 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 BMY near $56.98, the first option leg uses a $54.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed BMY 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 BMY shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $54.00 | $3.55 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $57.00 | $1.73 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $60.00 | $0.61 |
BMY butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$71.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $201.87
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$71.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $54.71, $59.29
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 2.843
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.
BMY butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on BMY. 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 | -100.0% | -$71.00 |
| $12.61 | -77.9% | -$71.00 |
| $25.20 | -55.8% | -$71.00 |
| $37.80 | -33.7% | -$71.00 |
| $50.40 | -11.5% | -$71.00 |
| $63.00 | +10.6% | -$71.00 |
| $75.59 | +32.7% | -$71.00 |
| $88.19 | +54.8% | -$71.00 |
| $100.79 | +76.9% | -$71.00 |
| $113.39 | +99.0% | -$71.00 |
When traders use butterfly on BMY
Butterflies on BMY are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect BMY 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.
BMY thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for BMY extends from approximately $52.75 on the downside to $61.21 on the upside. A BMY long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if BMY settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current BMY IV rank near 28.67% 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 BMY at 25.91%. As a Healthcare name, BMY options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to BMY-specific events.
BMY 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. BMY positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move BMY alongside the broader basket even when BMY-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current BMY chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on BMY?
- A butterfly on BMY is the butterfly strategy applied to BMY (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 BMY stock trading near $56.98, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed BMY chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are BMY 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 BMY butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 25.91%), the computed maximum profit is $201.87 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$71.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a BMY butterfly?
- The breakeven for the BMY butterfly priced on this page is roughly $54.71 and $59.29 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 BMY market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 7.43%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on BMY?
- Butterflies on BMY are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect BMY 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 BMY implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- BMY ATM IV is at 25.91% with IV rank near 28.67%, 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.