IMPP Butterfly Strategy
IMPP (Imperial Petroleum Inc.), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Exploration & Production industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Imperial Petroleum Inc. provides international seaborne transportation services to oil producers, refineries, and commodities traders. It carries refined petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, and jet fuel, as well as edible oils and chemicals; and crude oils. As of March 29, 2022, the company owned four medium range refined petroleum product tankers and one Aframax crude oil tanker with a total capacity of 305,804 deadweight tons. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Athens, Greece.
IMPP (Imperial Petroleum Inc.) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Exploration & Production, with a market capitalization of approximately $170.4M, a trailing P/E of 3.76, a beta of 1.18 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 2.45-6.57, average daily share volume of 720K, a public-listing history dating back to 2021, approximately 74 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how IMPP stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.18 places IMPP roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 3.76 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price.
What is a butterfly on IMPP?
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 IMPP snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $4.83, ATM IV 67.70%, IV rank 10.67%, expected move 19.41%. The butterfly on IMPP 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 IMPP specifically: IMPP IV at 67.70% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a IMPP butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 19.41% (roughly $0.94 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 IMPP expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on IMPP should anchor to the underlying notional of $4.83 per share and to the trader's directional view on IMPP stock.
IMPP butterfly setup
The IMPP 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 IMPP near $4.83, the first option leg uses a $4.59 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed IMPP 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 IMPP shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $4.59 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $4.83 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $5.07 | N/A |
IMPP 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.
IMPP butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on IMPP. 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 IMPP
Butterflies on IMPP are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect IMPP 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.
IMPP thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for IMPP extends from approximately $3.89 on the downside to $5.77 on the upside. A IMPP long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if IMPP settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current IMPP IV rank near 10.67% 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 IMPP at 67.70%. As a Energy name, IMPP options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to IMPP-specific events.
IMPP 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. IMPP positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move IMPP alongside the broader basket even when IMPP-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current IMPP chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on IMPP?
- A butterfly on IMPP is the butterfly strategy applied to IMPP (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 IMPP stock trading near $4.83, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed IMPP chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are IMPP 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 IMPP butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 67.70%), 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 IMPP butterfly?
- The breakeven for the IMPP 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 IMPP market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 19.41%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on IMPP?
- Butterflies on IMPP are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect IMPP 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 IMPP implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- IMPP ATM IV is at 67.70% with IV rank near 10.67%, 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.