KO Butterfly Strategy

KO (The Coca-Cola Company), in the Consumer Defensive sector, (Beverages - Non-Alcoholic industry), listed on NYSE.

The Coca-Cola Company, a beverage company, manufactures, markets, and sells various nonalcoholic beverages worldwide. The company provides sparkling soft drinks, sparkling flavors; water, sports, coffee, and tea; juice, value-added dairy, and plant-based beverages; and other beverages. It also offers beverage concentrates and syrups, as well as fountain syrups to fountain retailers, such as restaurants and convenience stores. The company sells its products under the Coca-Cola, Diet Coke/Coca-Cola Light, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, caffeine free Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Fanta Orange, Fanta Zero Orange, Fanta Zero Sugar, Fanta Apple, Sprite, Sprite Zero Sugar, Simply Orange, Simply Apple, Simply Grapefruit, Fresca, Schweppes, Thums Up, Aquarius, Ayataka, BODYARMOR, Ciel, Costa, Dasani, dogadan, FUZE TEA, Georgia, glacéau smartwater, glacéau vitaminwater, Gold Peak, Ice Dew, I LOHAS, Powerade, Topo Chico, AdeS, Del Valle, fairlife, innocent, Minute Maid, and Minute Maid Pulpy brands. It operates through a network of independent bottling partners, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers, as well as through bottling and distribution operators. The company was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

KO (The Coca-Cola Company) trades in the Consumer Defensive sector, specifically Beverages - Non-Alcoholic, with a market capitalization of approximately $345.32B, a trailing P/E of 25.20, a beta of 0.36 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 65.35-82, average daily share volume of 15.5M, a public-listing history dating back to 1919, approximately 70K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how KO stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.

A beta of 0.36 indicates KO has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. KO pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.

What is a butterfly on KO?

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 KO snapshot

As of May 15, 2026, spot at $80.93, ATM IV 17.88%, IV rank 42.38%, expected move 5.13%. The butterfly on KO 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 28-day expiry.

Why this butterfly structure on KO specifically: KO IV at 17.88% 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 5.13% (roughly $4.15 on the underlying). The 28-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated KO expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on KO should anchor to the underlying notional of $80.93 per share and to the trader's directional view on KO stock.

KO butterfly setup

The KO 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 KO near $80.93, the first option leg uses a $77.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed KO chain at a 28-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 KO shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).

ActionTypeStrike / BasisPremium (est)
Buy 1Call$77.00$4.13
Sell 2Call$81.00$1.65
Buy 1Call$85.00$0.34

KO butterfly risk and reward

Net Premium / Debit
-$116.50
Max Profit (per contract)
$249.33
Max Loss (per contract)
-$116.50
Breakeven(s)
$78.17, $83.84
Risk / Reward Ratio
2.140

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.

KO butterfly payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on KO. 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 SpotP&L at Expiration
$0.01-100.0%-$116.50
$17.90-77.9%-$116.50
$35.80-55.8%-$116.50
$53.69-33.7%-$116.50
$71.58-11.6%-$116.50
$89.47+10.6%-$116.50
$107.37+32.7%-$116.50
$125.26+54.8%-$116.50
$143.15+76.9%-$116.50
$161.05+99.0%-$116.50

When traders use butterfly on KO

Butterflies on KO are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect KO 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.

KO thesis for this butterfly

The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for KO extends from approximately $76.78 on the downside to $85.08 on the upside. A KO long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if KO settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current KO IV rank near 42.38% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on KO should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Consumer Defensive name, KO options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to KO-specific events.

KO 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. KO positions also carry Consumer Defensive sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move KO alongside the broader basket even when KO-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current KO chain quotes before placing a trade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a butterfly on KO?
A butterfly on KO is the butterfly strategy applied to KO (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 KO stock trading near $80.93, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed KO chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
How are KO 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 KO butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 17.88%), the computed maximum profit is $249.33 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$116.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
What is the breakeven for a KO butterfly?
The breakeven for the KO butterfly priced on this page is roughly $78.17 and $83.84 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 KO market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 5.13%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
When should you consider a butterfly on KO?
Butterflies on KO are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect KO 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 KO implied volatility affect this butterfly?
KO ATM IV is at 17.88% with IV rank near 42.38%, 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.

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