GKOS Butterfly Strategy
GKOS (Glaukos Corporation), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Devices industry), listed on NYSE.
Glaukos Corporation operates as an ophthalmic medical technology and pharmaceutical enterprise, primarily focused on pioneering novel therapies for glaucoma, corneal disorders, and retinal diseases. The company offers a range of micro-bypass stents, including iStent, iStent inject, and iStent inject W. These devices are designed to enhance aqueous humor outflow, being inserted during cataract surgery to treat mild-to-moderate open-angle glaucoma. Its promising product pipeline features iStent Infinite, a three-stent system intended for standalone use in patients with refractory glaucoma, as well as iDose TR, a targeted injectable implant that utilizes Glaukos's micro-scale device platform to deliver therapeutic levels of medication. The company distributes its products through a direct sales organization and a network of distributors, serving markets across the United States and internationally. Glaukos Corporation, founded in 1998, is headquartered in San Clemente, California.
GKOS (Glaukos Corporation) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Devices, with a market capitalization of approximately $11.01B, a beta of 0.76 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 73.16-186.75, average daily share volume of 943K, a public-listing history dating back to 2015, approximately 1K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how GKOS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.76 places GKOS roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a butterfly on GKOS?
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.
GKOS snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $184.94, ATM IV 37.40%, IV rank 0.00%, expected move 10.72%. The butterfly on GKOS 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 35-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on GKOS specifically: GKOS IV at 37.40% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a GKOS butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 10.72% (roughly $19.83 on the underlying). The 35-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated GKOS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on GKOS should anchor to the underlying notional of $184.94 per share and to the trader's directional view on GKOS stock.
GKOS butterfly setup
The GKOS 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 GKOS at $184.94 on that close, the first option leg uses a $175.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed GKOS chain at a 35-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 GKOS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $175.00 | $15.90 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $185.00 | $9.65 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $195.00 | $4.90 |
GKOS butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$150.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $762.57
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$150.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $176.49, $193.52
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 5.084
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.
GKOS butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on GKOS. 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% | -$150.00 |
| $40.90 | -77.9% | -$150.00 |
| $81.79 | -55.8% | -$150.00 |
| $122.68 | -33.7% | -$150.00 |
| $163.57 | -11.6% | -$150.00 |
| $204.46 | +10.6% | -$150.00 |
| $245.35 | +32.7% | -$150.00 |
| $286.24 | +54.8% | -$150.00 |
| $327.13 | +76.9% | -$150.00 |
| $368.02 | +99.0% | -$150.00 |
When traders use butterfly on GKOS
Butterflies on GKOS are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect GKOS 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.
GKOS thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for GKOS extends from approximately $165.11 on the downside to $204.77 on the upside. A GKOS long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if GKOS settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current GKOS IV rank near 0.00% 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 GKOS at 37.40%. As a Healthcare name, GKOS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to GKOS-specific events.
GKOS 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. GKOS positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move GKOS alongside the broader basket even when GKOS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current GKOS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on GKOS?
- A butterfly on GKOS is the butterfly strategy applied to GKOS (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 GKOS stock at $184.94 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed GKOS chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are GKOS 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 GKOS butterfly priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 37.40%), the computed maximum profit is $762.57 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$150.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a GKOS butterfly?
- The breakeven for the GKOS butterfly priced on this page is roughly $176.49 and $193.52 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 GKOS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 10.72%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on GKOS?
- Butterflies on GKOS are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect GKOS 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 GKOS implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- GKOS ATM IV is at 37.40% with IV rank near 0.00%, 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.