CAI Butterfly Strategy
CAI (Caris Life Sciences, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Caris Life Sciences, Inc., an artificial intelligence TechBio company, provides molecular profiling services in the United States and internationally. It develops and commercializes solutions to transform healthcare using molecular information, and machine learning algorithms. The company's molecular profiling services portfolio includes MI Profile, a tissue-based molecular profiling solution; and Caris Assure, a blood-based molecular profiling solution for cancer treatment. It also offers pharma research and development services comprising laboratory delivery, strategic data, and research services to biopharmaceutical customers. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.
CAI (Caris Life Sciences, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.15B, a trailing P/E of 122.15, a beta of 1.09 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 14.19-42.5, average daily share volume of 2.4M, a public-listing history dating back to 2025, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CAI stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.09 places CAI roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 122.15 is on the rich side, which tends to correlate with higher earnings-window IV expansion as the market debates whether forward growth supports the multiple.
What is a butterfly on CAI?
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 CAI snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $14.82, ATM IV 81.80%, IV rank 21.43%, expected move 23.45%. The butterfly on CAI 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 CAI specifically: CAI IV at 81.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CAI butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 23.45% (roughly $3.48 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 CAI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CAI should anchor to the underlying notional of $14.82 per share and to the trader's directional view on CAI stock.
CAI butterfly setup
The CAI 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 CAI near $14.82, the first option leg uses a $14.08 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CAI 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 CAI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $14.08 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $14.82 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $15.56 | N/A |
CAI 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.
CAI butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on CAI. 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 CAI
Butterflies on CAI are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CAI 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.
CAI thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CAI extends from approximately $11.34 on the downside to $18.30 on the upside. A CAI long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if CAI settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current CAI IV rank near 21.43% 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 CAI at 81.80%. As a Healthcare name, CAI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CAI-specific events.
CAI 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. CAI positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CAI alongside the broader basket even when CAI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CAI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on CAI?
- A butterfly on CAI is the butterfly strategy applied to CAI (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 CAI stock trading near $14.82, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CAI chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CAI 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 CAI butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 81.80%), 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 CAI butterfly?
- The breakeven for the CAI 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 CAI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 23.45%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on CAI?
- Butterflies on CAI are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CAI 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 CAI implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- CAI ATM IV is at 81.80% with IV rank near 21.43%, 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.