CUZ Butterfly Strategy
CUZ (Cousins Properties Incorporated), in the Real Estate sector, (REIT - Office industry), listed on NYSE.
Cousins Properties is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company, based in Atlanta, GA and acting through its operating partnership, Cousins Properties LP, primarily invests in Class A office towers located in high-growth Sun Belt markets. Founded in 1958, Cousins creates shareholder value through its extensive expertise in the development, acquisition, leasing and management of high-quality real estate assets. The Company has a comprehensive strategy in place based on a simple platform, trophy assets and opportunistic investments.
CUZ (Cousins Properties Incorporated) trades in the Real Estate sector, specifically REIT - Office, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.34B, a beta of 1.20 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 21.03-30.81, average daily share volume of 2.3M, a public-listing history dating back to 1980, approximately 306 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CUZ stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.20 places CUZ roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. CUZ pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on CUZ?
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 CUZ snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $25.79, ATM IV 35.40%, IV rank 15.18%, expected move 10.15%. The butterfly on CUZ 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 CUZ specifically: CUZ IV at 35.40% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a CUZ butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 10.15% (roughly $2.62 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 CUZ expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CUZ should anchor to the underlying notional of $25.79 per share and to the trader's directional view on CUZ stock.
CUZ butterfly setup
The CUZ 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 CUZ near $25.79, the first option leg uses a $24.50 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CUZ 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 CUZ shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $24.50 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $25.79 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $27.08 | N/A |
CUZ 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.
CUZ butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on CUZ. 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 CUZ
Butterflies on CUZ are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CUZ 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.
CUZ thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CUZ extends from approximately $23.17 on the downside to $28.41 on the upside. A CUZ long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if CUZ settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current CUZ IV rank near 15.18% 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 CUZ at 35.40%. As a Real Estate name, CUZ options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CUZ-specific events.
CUZ 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. CUZ positions also carry Real Estate sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CUZ alongside the broader basket even when CUZ-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current CUZ chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on CUZ?
- A butterfly on CUZ is the butterfly strategy applied to CUZ (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 CUZ stock trading near $25.79, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CUZ chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CUZ 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 CUZ butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 35.40%), 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 CUZ butterfly?
- The breakeven for the CUZ 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 CUZ market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 10.15%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on CUZ?
- Butterflies on CUZ are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect CUZ 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 CUZ implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- CUZ ATM IV is at 35.40% with IV rank near 15.18%, 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.