COUR Butterfly Strategy
COUR (Coursera, Inc.), in the Consumer Defensive sector, (Education & Training Services industry), listed on NYSE.
Coursera, Inc. operates an online educational content platform that connects learners, educators, organizations, and institutions. It offers online courses that include data science, business, computer science, information technology, health, social sciences, logic, project management, and digital marketing services; campus student plans; degree courses; and certification education. Coursera, Inc. was formerly known as Dkandu, Inc. and changed its name to Coursera, Inc. in April 2012. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
COUR (Coursera, Inc.) trades in the Consumer Defensive sector, specifically Education & Training Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $899.1M, a beta of 1.30 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 5-13.56, average daily share volume of 5.2M, a public-listing history dating back to 2021, approximately 1K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how COUR stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.30 indicates COUR has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position.
What is a butterfly on COUR?
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 COUR snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $5.22, ATM IV 64.30%, IV rank 8.36%, expected move 18.43%. The butterfly on COUR 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 COUR specifically: COUR IV at 64.30% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a COUR butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 18.43% (roughly $0.96 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 COUR expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on COUR should anchor to the underlying notional of $5.22 per share and to the trader's directional view on COUR stock.
COUR butterfly setup
The COUR 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 COUR near $5.22, the first option leg uses a $4.96 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed COUR 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 COUR shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $4.96 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $5.22 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $5.48 | N/A |
COUR 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.
COUR butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on COUR. 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 COUR
Butterflies on COUR are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect COUR 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.
COUR thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for COUR extends from approximately $4.26 on the downside to $6.18 on the upside. A COUR long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if COUR settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current COUR IV rank near 8.36% 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 COUR at 64.30%. As a Consumer Defensive name, COUR options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to COUR-specific events.
COUR 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. COUR positions also carry Consumer Defensive sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move COUR alongside the broader basket even when COUR-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current COUR chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on COUR?
- A butterfly on COUR is the butterfly strategy applied to COUR (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 COUR stock trading near $5.22, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed COUR chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are COUR 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 COUR butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 64.30%), 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 COUR butterfly?
- The breakeven for the COUR 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 COUR market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 18.43%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on COUR?
- Butterflies on COUR are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect COUR 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 COUR implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- COUR ATM IV is at 64.30% with IV rank near 8.36%, 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.