CTOS Butterfly Strategy
CTOS (Custom Truck One Source, Inc.), in the Industrials sector, (Rental & Leasing Services industry), listed on NYSE.
Custom Truck One Source, Inc. provides specialty equipment rental services to the electric utility transmission and distribution, telecommunications, rail, other infrastructure-related industries in North America. It operates through Equipment Rental Solutions, Truck and Equipment Sales, and Aftermarket Parts and Services segments. The Equipment Rental Solutions owns new and used specialty equipment, including truck-mounted aerial lifts, cranes, service trucks, dump trucks, trailers, digger derricks, and other machinery and equipment. The Truck and Equipment Sales segment offers new equipment for sale to be used for end-markets which can be modified to meet customers specific needs. The Aftermarket Parts and Services segment provides truck and equipment maintenance and repair services as well as sale of specialized aftermarket parts. The company was formerly known as Nesco Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Custom Truck One Source, Inc. in April 2021.
CTOS (Custom Truck One Source, Inc.) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Rental & Leasing Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.26B, a beta of 1.41 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 4.19-10.205, average daily share volume of 1.0M, a public-listing history dating back to 2017, approximately 3K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CTOS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.41 indicates CTOS 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 CTOS?
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 CTOS snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $9.84, ATM IV 96.50%, IV rank 36.81%, expected move 27.67%. The butterfly on CTOS 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 CTOS specifically: CTOS IV at 96.50% 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 27.67% (roughly $2.72 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 CTOS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CTOS should anchor to the underlying notional of $9.84 per share and to the trader's directional view on CTOS stock.
CTOS butterfly setup
The CTOS 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 CTOS near $9.84, the first option leg uses a $9.35 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CTOS 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 CTOS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $9.35 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $9.84 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $10.33 | N/A |
CTOS 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.
CTOS butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on CTOS. 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 CTOS
Butterflies on CTOS are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CTOS 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.
CTOS thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CTOS extends from approximately $7.12 on the downside to $12.56 on the upside. A CTOS long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if CTOS settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current CTOS IV rank near 36.81% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on CTOS should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Industrials name, CTOS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CTOS-specific events.
CTOS 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. CTOS positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CTOS alongside the broader basket even when CTOS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CTOS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on CTOS?
- A butterfly on CTOS is the butterfly strategy applied to CTOS (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 CTOS stock trading near $9.84, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CTOS chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CTOS 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 CTOS butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 96.50%), 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 CTOS butterfly?
- The breakeven for the CTOS 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 CTOS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 27.67%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on CTOS?
- Butterflies on CTOS are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CTOS 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 CTOS implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- CTOS ATM IV is at 96.50% with IV rank near 36.81%, 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.