CG Butterfly Strategy
CG (The Carlyle Group Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Asset Management industry), listed on NASDAQ.
The Carlyle Group Inc. is an investment firm specializing in direct and fund of fund investments. Within direct investments, it specializes in management-led/ Leveraged buyouts, privatizations, divestitures, strategic minority equity investments, structured credit, global distressed and corporate opportunities, small and middle market, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, senior debt, mezzanine and leveraged finance, and venture and growth capital financings, seed/startup, early venture, emerging growth, turnaround, mid venture, late venture, PIPES. The firm invests across four segments which include Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Market Strategies, and Solutions. The firm typically invests in industrial, agribusiness, ecological sector, fintech, airports, parking, Plastics, Rubber, diversified natural resources, minerals, farming, aerospace, defense, automotive, consumer, retail, industrial, infrastructure, energy, power, healthcare, software, software enabled services, semiconductors, communications infrastructure, financial technology, utilities, gaming, systems and related supply chain, electronic systems, systems, oil and gas, processing facilities, power generation assets, technology, systems, real estate, financial services, transportation, business services, telecommunications, media, and logistics sectors. Within the industrial sector, the firm invests in manufacturing, building products, packaging, chemicals, metals and mining, forestry and paper products, and industrial consumables and services. In consumer and retail sectors, it invests in food and beverage, retail, restaurants, consumer products, domestic consumption, consumer services, personal care products, direct marketing, and education.
CG (The Carlyle Group Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Asset Management, with a market capitalization of approximately $17.70B, a trailing P/E of 32.31, a beta of 1.89 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 43.19-69.85, average daily share volume of 3.4M, a public-listing history dating back to 2012, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CG stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.89 indicates CG has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position. CG pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on CG?
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 CG snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $48.29, ATM IV 42.00%, IV rank 32.37%, expected move 12.04%. The butterfly on CG 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 CG specifically: CG IV at 42.00% 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 12.04% (roughly $5.81 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 CG expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CG should anchor to the underlying notional of $48.29 per share and to the trader's directional view on CG stock.
CG butterfly setup
The CG 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 CG near $48.29, the first option leg uses a $45.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CG 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 CG shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $45.00 | $4.50 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $47.50 | $2.88 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $50.00 | $1.68 |
CG butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$42.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $200.79
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$42.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $45.43, $49.58
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 4.725
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.
CG butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on CG. 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% | -$42.50 |
| $10.69 | -77.9% | -$42.50 |
| $21.36 | -55.8% | -$42.50 |
| $32.04 | -33.7% | -$42.50 |
| $42.71 | -11.5% | -$42.50 |
| $53.39 | +10.6% | -$42.50 |
| $64.07 | +32.7% | -$42.50 |
| $74.74 | +54.8% | -$42.50 |
| $85.42 | +76.9% | -$42.50 |
| $96.09 | +99.0% | -$42.50 |
When traders use butterfly on CG
Butterflies on CG are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CG 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.
CG thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CG extends from approximately $42.48 on the downside to $54.10 on the upside. A CG long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if CG settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current CG IV rank near 32.37% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on CG should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Financial Services name, CG options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CG-specific events.
CG 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. CG positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CG alongside the broader basket even when CG-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CG chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on CG?
- A butterfly on CG is the butterfly strategy applied to CG (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 CG stock trading near $48.29, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CG chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CG 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 CG butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 42.00%), the computed maximum profit is $200.79 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$42.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CG butterfly?
- The breakeven for the CG butterfly priced on this page is roughly $45.43 and $49.58 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 CG market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 12.04%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on CG?
- Butterflies on CG are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CG 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 CG implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- CG ATM IV is at 42.00% with IV rank near 32.37%, 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.