CCO Butterfly Strategy
CCO (Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.), in the Communication Services sector, (Advertising Agencies industry), listed on NYSE.
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. owns, operates, and sells advertising displays in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Americas and Europe. The company offers advertising services through billboards, including bulletins and posters; transit displays, which are advertising surfaces on various types of vehicles or within transit systems; street furniture displays, such as advertising surfaces on bus shelters, information kiosks, freestanding units, and other public structures; spectaculars, which are customized display structures that incorporate videos, multidimensional lettering and figures, mechanical devices and moving parts, and other embellishments; wallscape, a display that drapes over or is suspended from the sides of buildings or other structures. It also provides street furniture equipment, cleaning and maintenance services, operation of public bike programs, and production services; and a public bicycle rental program, which offers bicycles for rent to the general public in various municipalities. As of December 31, 2021, it owned or operated approximately 69,000 advertising displays in the Americas; and 430,000 advertising displays in Europe. The company was formerly known as Eller Media Company and changed its name to Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. in August 2005.
CCO (Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.) trades in the Communication Services sector, specifically Advertising Agencies, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.22B, a beta of 2.00 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 1-2.43, average daily share volume of 7.4M, a public-listing history dating back to 2005, approximately 4K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CCO stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 2.00 indicates CCO 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 CCO?
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 CCO snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $2.38, ATM IV 33.80%, IV rank 10.78%, expected move 9.69%. The butterfly on CCO 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 CCO specifically: CCO IV at 33.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CCO butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 9.69% (roughly $0.23 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 CCO expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CCO should anchor to the underlying notional of $2.38 per share and to the trader's directional view on CCO stock.
CCO butterfly setup
The CCO 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 CCO near $2.38, the first option leg uses a $2.26 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CCO 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 CCO shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $2.26 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $2.38 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $2.50 | N/A |
CCO 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.
CCO butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on CCO. 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 CCO
Butterflies on CCO are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CCO 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.
CCO thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CCO extends from approximately $2.15 on the downside to $2.61 on the upside. A CCO long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if CCO settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current CCO IV rank near 10.78% 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 CCO at 33.80%. As a Communication Services name, CCO options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CCO-specific events.
CCO 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. CCO positions also carry Communication Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CCO alongside the broader basket even when CCO-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CCO chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on CCO?
- A butterfly on CCO is the butterfly strategy applied to CCO (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 CCO stock trading near $2.38, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CCO chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CCO 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 CCO butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 33.80%), 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 CCO butterfly?
- The breakeven for the CCO 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 CCO market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.69%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on CCO?
- Butterflies on CCO are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CCO 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 CCO implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- CCO ATM IV is at 33.80% with IV rank near 10.78%, 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.