CCOI Butterfly Strategy
CCOI (Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc.), in the Communication Services sector, (Telecommunications Services industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides high-speed Internet access, private network, and data center colocation space services in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, and Africa. The company offers on-net Internet access and private network services to law firms, financial services firms, and advertising and marketing firms, as well as heath care providers, educational institutions and other professional services businesses, other Internet service providers, telephone companies, cable television companies, Web hosting companies, media service providers, mobile phone operators, content delivery network companies, and commercial content and application service providers. It also provides Internet access and private network services to customers that are not located in buildings directly connected to its network; and on-net services to customers located in buildings that are physically connected to its network. In addition, the company offers off-net services to corporate customers using other carriers' circuits to provide the last mile portion of the link from the customers' premises to the network. Further, it operates data centers that allow its customers to collocate their equipment and access the network. The company operates 54 data centers and provides facilities to 3,035 buildings and on-net services to 1,817 to multi-tenant office buildings.
CCOI (Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc.) trades in the Communication Services sector, specifically Telecommunications Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $789.7M, a beta of 0.83 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 14.82-54.37, average daily share volume of 1.4M, a public-listing history dating back to 2002, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CCOI stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.83 places CCOI roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. CCOI pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on CCOI?
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 CCOI snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $16.35, ATM IV 79.30%, IV rank 37.26%, expected move 22.73%. The butterfly on CCOI 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 CCOI specifically: CCOI IV at 79.30% 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 22.73% (roughly $3.72 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 CCOI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CCOI should anchor to the underlying notional of $16.35 per share and to the trader's directional view on CCOI stock.
CCOI butterfly setup
The CCOI 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 CCOI near $16.35, the first option leg uses a $15.53 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CCOI 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 CCOI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $15.53 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $16.35 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $17.17 | N/A |
CCOI 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.
CCOI butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on CCOI. 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 CCOI
Butterflies on CCOI are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CCOI 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.
CCOI thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CCOI extends from approximately $12.63 on the downside to $20.07 on the upside. A CCOI long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if CCOI settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current CCOI IV rank near 37.26% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on CCOI should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Communication Services name, CCOI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CCOI-specific events.
CCOI 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. CCOI positions also carry Communication Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CCOI alongside the broader basket even when CCOI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CCOI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on CCOI?
- A butterfly on CCOI is the butterfly strategy applied to CCOI (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 CCOI stock trading near $16.35, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CCOI chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CCOI 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 CCOI butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 79.30%), 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 CCOI butterfly?
- The breakeven for the CCOI 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 CCOI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 22.73%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on CCOI?
- Butterflies on CCOI are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CCOI 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 CCOI implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- CCOI ATM IV is at 79.30% with IV rank near 37.26%, 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.