CNX Butterfly Strategy
CNX (CNX Resources Corporation), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Exploration & Production industry), listed on NYSE.
CNX Resources Corporation, an independent natural gas and midstream company, acquires, explores for, develops, and produces natural gas properties in the Appalachian Basin. The company operates in two segments, Shale and Coalbed Methane. It produces and sells pipeline quality natural gas primarily for gas wholesalers. The company owns rights to extract natural gas in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio from approximately 526,000 net Marcellus Shale acres; and approximately 610,000 net acres of Utica Shale, as well as rights to extract natural gas from other shale and shallow oil and gas positions from approximately 1,006,000 net acres in Illinois, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. It also owns rights to extract coalbed methane (CBM) in Virginia from approximately 282,000 net CBM acres in Central Appalachia, as well as 1,733,000 net CBM acres in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and New Mexico. In addition, the company designs, builds, and operates natural gas gathering systems to move gas from the wellhead to interstate pipelines or other local sales points; owns and operates approximately 2,600 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines, as well as various natural gas processing facilities.
CNX (CNX Resources Corporation) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Exploration & Production, with a market capitalization of approximately $5.01B, a trailing P/E of 4.07, a beta of 0.64 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 27.72-43.62, average daily share volume of 2.2M, a public-listing history dating back to 1999, approximately 458 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CNX stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.64 indicates CNX 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 4.07 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price.
What is a butterfly on CNX?
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 CNX snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $36.23, ATM IV 35.20%, IV rank 42.95%, expected move 10.09%. The butterfly on CNX 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 CNX specifically: CNX IV at 35.20% 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 10.09% (roughly $3.66 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 CNX expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CNX should anchor to the underlying notional of $36.23 per share and to the trader's directional view on CNX stock.
CNX butterfly setup
The CNX 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 CNX near $36.23, the first option leg uses a $34.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CNX 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 CNX shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $34.00 | $3.08 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $36.00 | $1.75 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $38.00 | $0.85 |
CNX butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$42.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $152.20
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$42.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $34.43, $37.58
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 3.581
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.
CNX butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on CNX. 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 |
| $8.02 | -77.9% | -$42.50 |
| $16.03 | -55.8% | -$42.50 |
| $24.04 | -33.6% | -$42.50 |
| $32.05 | -11.5% | -$42.50 |
| $40.06 | +10.6% | -$42.50 |
| $48.07 | +32.7% | -$42.50 |
| $56.08 | +54.8% | -$42.50 |
| $64.09 | +76.9% | -$42.50 |
| $72.10 | +99.0% | -$42.50 |
When traders use butterfly on CNX
Butterflies on CNX are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CNX 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.
CNX thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CNX extends from approximately $32.57 on the downside to $39.89 on the upside. A CNX long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if CNX settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current CNX IV rank near 42.95% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on CNX should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Energy name, CNX options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CNX-specific events.
CNX 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. CNX positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CNX alongside the broader basket even when CNX-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CNX chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on CNX?
- A butterfly on CNX is the butterfly strategy applied to CNX (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 CNX stock trading near $36.23, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CNX chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CNX 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 CNX butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 35.20%), the computed maximum profit is $152.20 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 CNX butterfly?
- The breakeven for the CNX butterfly priced on this page is roughly $34.43 and $37.58 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 CNX market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 10.09%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on CNX?
- Butterflies on CNX are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CNX 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 CNX implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- CNX ATM IV is at 35.20% with IV rank near 42.95%, 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.