CCOI Butterfly Strategy
CCOI (Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc.), in the Communication Services sector, (Telecommunications Services industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc., founded in 1999 and based in Washington, D.C., functions as a multinational provider of high-speed internet connectivity, private networking solutions, and data center co-location services. Its extensive reach covers clients across North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, and Africa. The company delivers its core services, including rapid internet access and secure private networks, in two primary ways: directly to customers located within buildings physically connected to its network (referred to as on-net services), and to those outside this direct infrastructure (off-net services). For corporate customers requiring off-net connections, Cogent frequently utilizes other carriers' circuits to complete the final segment of the network link to the customer's premises. Cogent serves a broad spectrum of organizations, from professional services firms like legal practices, financial institutions, advertising and marketing agencies, healthcare providers, and educational institutions, to other key players in the communications sector. This includes other internet service providers, telephone and cable television companies, web hosting providers, media and mobile phone operators, content delivery networks, and commercial content/application developers.
CCOI (Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc.) trades in the Communication Services sector, specifically Telecommunications Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $513.3M, a beta of 0.79 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 9-45.69, average daily share volume of 1.3M, 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 0.79 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.
CCOI snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $11.45, ATM IV 84.60%, IV rank 27.70%, expected move 24.25%. The butterfly on CCOI below is built from the end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 35-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on CCOI specifically: CCOI IV at 84.60% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CCOI butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 24.25% (roughly $2.78 on the underlying). The 35-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 $11.45 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 at $11.45 on that close, the first option leg uses a $10.88 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 35-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 | $10.88 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $11.45 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $12.02 | 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 $8.67 on the downside to $14.23 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 27.70% 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 CCOI at 84.60%. 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 at $11.45 on the most recent close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CCOI chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's 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 84.60%), 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 the end-of-day chain's premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The CCOI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 24.25%; 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 84.60% with IV rank near 27.70%, 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.