DAKT Butterfly Strategy
DAKT (Daktronics, Inc.), in the Technology sector, (Hardware, Equipment & Parts industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Daktronics, Inc. designs, manufactures, markets, and sells electronic display systems and related products worldwide. It operates through five segments: Commercial, Live Events, High School Park and Recreation, Transportation, and International. The company offers video display systems, such as displays to show various levels of video, graphics, and animation; indoor and outdoor light emitting diodes (LED) video displays, including centerhung, landmark, ribbon board, and corporate office entrance displays, as well as video walls and hanging banners; mobile and modular display systems; architectural lighting and display products; indoor and outdoor scoreboards for various sports, digit displays, scoring and timing controllers, statistics software, and other related products; and timing systems for sports events primarily aquatics and track competitions, as well as swimming touchpads, race start systems, and relay take-off platforms. It also provides control components for video displays in live event applications; message displays; ITS dynamic message signs, including LED displays for road management; mass transit displays; and sound systems for indoor and outdoor sports venues. In addition, the company offers out-of-home advertising displays comprising digital billboards and street furniture displays; DataTime product line that consists of outdoor time and temperature displays; and Fuelight digit displays designed for the petroleum industry. Further, it provides ADFLOW DMS systems that include indoor networked solutions for retailers, convenience stores, and other businesses; and Venus Control Suite, Show Control, Vanguard, and others, as well as maintenance and professional services related to its products.
DAKT (Daktronics, Inc.) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Hardware, Equipment & Parts, with a market capitalization of approximately $975.4M, a trailing P/E of 35.39, a beta of 1.67 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 13.05-28.27, average daily share volume of 481K, a public-listing history dating back to 1994, approximately 3K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how DAKT stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.67 indicates DAKT has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position. The trailing P/E of 35.39 is on the rich side, which tends to correlate with higher earnings-window IV expansion as the market debates whether forward growth supports the multiple.
What is a butterfly on DAKT?
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 DAKT snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $19.09, ATM IV 57.80%, IV rank 32.24%, expected move 16.57%. The butterfly on DAKT 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 DAKT specifically: DAKT IV at 57.80% 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 16.57% (roughly $3.16 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 DAKT expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on DAKT should anchor to the underlying notional of $19.09 per share and to the trader's directional view on DAKT stock.
DAKT butterfly setup
The DAKT 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 DAKT near $19.09, the first option leg uses a $18.14 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed DAKT 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 DAKT shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $18.14 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $19.09 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $20.04 | N/A |
DAKT 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.
DAKT butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on DAKT. 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 DAKT
Butterflies on DAKT are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect DAKT 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.
DAKT thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for DAKT extends from approximately $15.93 on the downside to $22.25 on the upside. A DAKT long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if DAKT settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current DAKT IV rank near 32.24% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on DAKT should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Technology name, DAKT options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to DAKT-specific events.
DAKT 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. DAKT positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move DAKT alongside the broader basket even when DAKT-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current DAKT chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on DAKT?
- A butterfly on DAKT is the butterfly strategy applied to DAKT (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 DAKT stock trading near $19.09, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed DAKT chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are DAKT 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 DAKT butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 57.80%), 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 DAKT butterfly?
- The breakeven for the DAKT 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 DAKT market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 16.57%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on DAKT?
- Butterflies on DAKT are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect DAKT 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 DAKT implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- DAKT ATM IV is at 57.80% with IV rank near 32.24%, 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.