FAST Butterfly Strategy
FAST (Fastenal Company), in the Industrials sector, (Industrial - Distribution industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Fastenal Company, along with its associated entities, operates as a global wholesale supplier of industrial and construction materials, with significant operations throughout North America, including the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and other international markets. Branded as Fastenal, the company offers a comprehensive range of fasteners, such as threaded bolts, nuts, screws, studs, and washers, which are vital for manufacturing processes, building developments, and equipment servicing. Beyond fasteners, its product catalog extends to diverse hardware and miscellaneous items like pins, machinery keys, concrete anchors, metal framing systems, wire ropes, strut products, and rivets, along with their related accessories. Fastenal serves a wide array of clients, including original equipment manufacturers, maintenance, repair, and operations departments within the manufacturing sector, and various non-residential construction contractors spanning general, electrical, plumbing, sheet metal, and road construction. Its customer base further encompasses agricultural businesses, transportation services (trucking, railroads), mining operations, educational institutions, retail establishments, the oil and gas exploration, production, and refinement industries, and governmental bodies at federal, state, and local levels. The company distributes its offerings through an extensive network of 3,209 in-market facilities and 15 major distribution centers.
FAST (Fastenal Company) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Industrial - Distribution, with a market capitalization of approximately $59.92B, a trailing P/E of 44.32, a beta of 0.71 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 38.97-52.92, average daily share volume of 7.7M, a public-listing history dating back to 1987, approximately 22K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how FAST stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.71 places FAST roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 44.32 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. FAST pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on FAST?
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.
FAST snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $51.04, ATM IV 24.20%, IV rank 14.64%, expected move 6.94%. The butterfly on FAST below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 126-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on FAST specifically: FAST IV at 24.20% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a FAST butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 6.94% (roughly $3.54 on the underlying). The 126-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated FAST expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on FAST should anchor to the underlying notional of $51.04 per share and to the trader's directional view on FAST stock.
FAST butterfly setup
The FAST butterfly below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With FAST at $51.04 on that close, the first option leg uses a $47.50 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed FAST chain at a 126-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 FAST shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $47.50 | $5.75 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $50.00 | $3.85 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $52.50 | $2.48 |
FAST butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$52.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $173.77
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$52.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $48.03, $51.98
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 3.310
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.
FAST butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on FAST. 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.
| Underlying Price | % From Spot | P&L at Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| $0.01 | -100.0% | -$52.50 |
| $11.29 | -77.9% | -$52.50 |
| $22.58 | -55.8% | -$52.50 |
| $33.86 | -33.7% | -$52.50 |
| $45.15 | -11.5% | -$52.50 |
| $56.43 | +10.6% | -$52.50 |
| $67.71 | +32.7% | -$52.50 |
| $79.00 | +54.8% | -$52.50 |
| $90.28 | +76.9% | -$52.50 |
| $101.57 | +99.0% | -$52.50 |
When traders use butterfly on FAST
Butterflies on FAST are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect FAST 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.
FAST thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for FAST extends from approximately $47.50 on the downside to $54.58 on the upside. A FAST long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if FAST settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current FAST IV rank near 14.64% 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 FAST at 24.20%. As a Industrials name, FAST options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to FAST-specific events.
FAST 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. FAST positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move FAST alongside the broader basket even when FAST-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current FAST chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on FAST?
- A butterfly on FAST is the butterfly strategy applied to FAST (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 FAST stock at $51.04 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed FAST chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are FAST 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 FAST butterfly priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 24.20%), the computed maximum profit is $173.77 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$52.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a FAST butterfly?
- The breakeven for the FAST butterfly priced on this page is roughly $48.03 and $51.98 at expiration, derived from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain's premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The FAST market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 6.94%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on FAST?
- Butterflies on FAST are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect FAST 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 FAST implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- FAST ATM IV is at 24.20% with IV rank near 14.64%, 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.