CTGO Butterfly Strategy
CTGO (Contango Ore, Inc.), in the Basic Materials sector, (Gold industry), listed on AMEX.
Contango Ore, Inc., an exploration stage company, engages in the exploration of gold and associated minerals in the United States. It also explores for copper and silver deposits. The company, through its subsidiaries, leases approximately 675,000 acres from the Tetlin Tribal Council and approximately 13,000 State of Alaska mining claims for exploration and development; and owns 100% interest in the mineral rights to approximately 200,000 acres of State of Alaska mining claims located north and northwest of the Tetlin Lease. The company also holds interest in the Shamrock property that consists of 361 Alaska state mining claims covering approximately 52,640 acres. Contango Ore, Inc. was founded in 2009 and is based in Houston, Texas.
CTGO (Contango Ore, Inc.) trades in the Basic Materials sector, specifically Gold, with a market capitalization of approximately $321.9M, a beta of -0.02 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 13.15-34.38, average daily share volume of 468K, a public-listing history dating back to 2010, approximately 12 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CTGO stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of -0.02 indicates CTGO has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure.
What is a butterfly on CTGO?
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 CTGO snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $22.61, ATM IV 63.00%, IV rank 7.55%, expected move 18.06%. The butterfly on CTGO 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 CTGO specifically: CTGO IV at 63.00% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CTGO butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 18.06% (roughly $4.08 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 CTGO expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CTGO should anchor to the underlying notional of $22.61 per share and to the trader's directional view on CTGO stock.
CTGO butterfly setup
The CTGO 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 CTGO near $22.61, the first option leg uses a $21.48 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CTGO 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 CTGO shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $21.48 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $22.61 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $23.74 | N/A |
CTGO 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.
CTGO butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on CTGO. 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 CTGO
Butterflies on CTGO are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CTGO 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.
CTGO thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CTGO extends from approximately $18.53 on the downside to $26.69 on the upside. A CTGO long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if CTGO settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current CTGO IV rank near 7.55% 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 CTGO at 63.00%. As a Basic Materials name, CTGO options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CTGO-specific events.
CTGO 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. CTGO positions also carry Basic Materials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CTGO alongside the broader basket even when CTGO-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CTGO chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on CTGO?
- A butterfly on CTGO is the butterfly strategy applied to CTGO (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 CTGO stock trading near $22.61, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CTGO chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CTGO 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 CTGO butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 63.00%), 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 CTGO butterfly?
- The breakeven for the CTGO 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 CTGO market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 18.06%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on CTGO?
- Butterflies on CTGO are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CTGO 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 CTGO implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- CTGO ATM IV is at 63.00% with IV rank near 7.55%, 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.