MAC Butterfly Strategy
MAC (The Macerich Company), in the Real Estate sector, (REIT - Retail industry), listed on NYSE.
Macerich is a fully integrated, self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust, which focuses on the acquisition, leasing, management, development and redevelopment of regional malls throughout the United States. Macerich currently owns 51 million square feet of real estate consisting primarily of interests in 47 regional shopping centers. Macerich specializes in successful retail properties in many of the country's most attractive, densely populated markets with significant presence in the West Coast, Arizona, Chicago and the Metro New York to Washington, DC corridor. A recognized leader in sustainability, Macerich has achieved the #1 GRESB ranking in the North American Retail Sector for five straight years (2015 - 2019).
MAC (The Macerich Company) trades in the Real Estate sector, specifically REIT - Retail, with a market capitalization of approximately $5.74B, a beta of 2.11 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 14.82-22.56, average daily share volume of 2.4M, a public-listing history dating back to 1994, approximately 615 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how MAC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 2.11 indicates MAC has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position. MAC pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on MAC?
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 MAC snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $21.58, ATM IV 34.40%, IV rank 21.01%, expected move 9.86%. The butterfly on MAC 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 MAC specifically: MAC IV at 34.40% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a MAC butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 9.86% (roughly $2.13 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 MAC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on MAC should anchor to the underlying notional of $21.58 per share and to the trader's directional view on MAC stock.
MAC butterfly setup
The MAC 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 MAC near $21.58, the first option leg uses a $21.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed MAC 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 MAC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $21.00 | $1.30 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $22.00 | $0.73 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $23.00 | $0.38 |
MAC butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$22.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $68.53
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$22.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $21.23, $22.78
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 3.046
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.
MAC butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on MAC. 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% | -$22.50 |
| $4.78 | -77.8% | -$22.50 |
| $9.55 | -55.7% | -$22.50 |
| $14.32 | -33.6% | -$22.50 |
| $19.09 | -11.5% | -$22.50 |
| $23.86 | +10.6% | -$22.50 |
| $28.63 | +32.7% | -$22.50 |
| $33.40 | +54.8% | -$22.50 |
| $38.17 | +76.9% | -$22.50 |
| $42.94 | +99.0% | -$22.50 |
When traders use butterfly on MAC
Butterflies on MAC are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect MAC 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.
MAC thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for MAC extends from approximately $19.45 on the downside to $23.71 on the upside. A MAC long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if MAC settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current MAC IV rank near 21.01% 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 MAC at 34.40%. As a Real Estate name, MAC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to MAC-specific events.
MAC 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. MAC positions also carry Real Estate sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move MAC alongside the broader basket even when MAC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current MAC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on MAC?
- A butterfly on MAC is the butterfly strategy applied to MAC (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 MAC stock trading near $21.58, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed MAC chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are MAC 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 MAC butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 34.40%), the computed maximum profit is $68.53 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$22.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a MAC butterfly?
- The breakeven for the MAC butterfly priced on this page is roughly $21.23 and $22.78 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 MAC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.86%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on MAC?
- Butterflies on MAC are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect MAC 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 MAC implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- MAC ATM IV is at 34.40% with IV rank near 21.01%, 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.