CMCSA Butterfly Strategy
CMCSA (Comcast Corporation), in the Communication Services sector, (Telecommunications Services industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Comcast Corporation operates as a media and technology company worldwide. It operates through Cable Communications, Media, Studios, Theme Parks, and Sky segments. The Cable Communications segment offers broadband, video, voice, wireless, and other services to residential and business customers under the Xfinity brand; and advertising services. The Media segment operates NBCUniversal's television and streaming platforms, including national, regional, and international cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast, and Peacock networks. The Studios segment operates NBCUniversal's film and television studio production and distribution operations. The Theme Parks segment operates Universal theme parks in Orlando, Florida; Hollywood, California; Osaka, Japan; and Beijing, China.
CMCSA (Comcast Corporation) trades in the Communication Services sector, specifically Telecommunications Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $89.09B, a trailing P/E of 4.85, a beta of 0.69 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 24.13308-34.35801, average daily share volume of 31.9M, a public-listing history dating back to 1980, approximately 182K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CMCSA stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.69 indicates CMCSA has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. The trailing P/E of 4.85 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. CMCSA pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on CMCSA?
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 CMCSA snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $24.77, ATM IV 29.48%, IV rank 28.93%, expected move 8.45%. The butterfly on CMCSA 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 28-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on CMCSA specifically: CMCSA IV at 29.48% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CMCSA butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 8.45% (roughly $2.09 on the underlying). The 28-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated CMCSA expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CMCSA should anchor to the underlying notional of $24.77 per share and to the trader's directional view on CMCSA stock.
CMCSA butterfly setup
The CMCSA 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 CMCSA near $24.77, the first option leg uses a $24.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CMCSA chain at a 28-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 CMCSA shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $24.00 | $1.38 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $25.00 | $0.73 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $26.00 | $0.37 |
CMCSA butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$28.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $61.94
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$28.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $24.28, $25.72
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 2.212
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.
CMCSA butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on CMCSA. 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% | -$28.00 |
| $5.49 | -77.9% | -$28.00 |
| $10.96 | -55.7% | -$28.00 |
| $16.44 | -33.6% | -$28.00 |
| $21.91 | -11.5% | -$28.00 |
| $27.39 | +10.6% | -$28.00 |
| $32.86 | +32.7% | -$28.00 |
| $38.34 | +54.8% | -$28.00 |
| $43.82 | +76.9% | -$28.00 |
| $49.29 | +99.0% | -$28.00 |
When traders use butterfly on CMCSA
Butterflies on CMCSA are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CMCSA 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.
CMCSA thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CMCSA extends from approximately $22.68 on the downside to $26.86 on the upside. A CMCSA long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if CMCSA settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current CMCSA IV rank near 28.93% 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 CMCSA at 29.48%. As a Communication Services name, CMCSA options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CMCSA-specific events.
CMCSA 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. CMCSA positions also carry Communication Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CMCSA alongside the broader basket even when CMCSA-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CMCSA chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on CMCSA?
- A butterfly on CMCSA is the butterfly strategy applied to CMCSA (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 CMCSA stock trading near $24.77, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CMCSA chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CMCSA 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 CMCSA butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 29.48%), the computed maximum profit is $61.94 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$28.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CMCSA butterfly?
- The breakeven for the CMCSA butterfly priced on this page is roughly $24.28 and $25.72 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 CMCSA market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 8.45%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on CMCSA?
- Butterflies on CMCSA are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CMCSA 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 CMCSA implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- CMCSA ATM IV is at 29.48% with IV rank near 28.93%, 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.