MARA Butterfly Strategy
MARA (Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Financial - Capital Markets industry), listed on NASDAQ.
MARA Holdings, Inc. is a digital asset technology company, which engages in mining cryptocurrencies with a focus on the Bitcoin ecosystem. It also deals with owning and operating bitcoin mining facilities or data centers, selling proprietary software or technology to third parties operating in the Bitcoin ecosystem, offering advisory and consulting services to support Bitcoin mining ventures in domestic and international jurisdictions, and generating electricity from renewable energy resources or methane gas capture to power Bitcoin mining projects. The company was founded on February 23, 2010 and is headquartered in Hallandale Beach, FL.
MARA (Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Financial - Capital Markets, with a market capitalization of approximately $3.68B, a beta of 5.36 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 6.66-23.45, average daily share volume of 44.5M, a public-listing history dating back to 2012, approximately 266 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how MARA stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 5.36 indicates MARA has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position.
What is a butterfly on MARA?
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.
MARA snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $9.20, ATM IV 76.41%, IV rank 24.86%, expected move 21.91%. The butterfly on MARA 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 28-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on MARA specifically: MARA IV at 76.41% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a MARA butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 21.91% (roughly $2.02 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 MARA expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on MARA should anchor to the underlying notional of $9.20 per share and to the trader's directional view on MARA stock.
MARA butterfly setup
The MARA 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 MARA at $9.20 on that close, the first option leg uses a $8.50 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed MARA 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 MARA shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $8.50 | $1.14 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $9.00 | $0.88 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $9.50 | $0.66 |
MARA butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$5.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $42.40
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$5.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $8.55
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 8.479
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.
MARA butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on MARA. 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 | -99.9% | -$5.00 |
| $2.04 | -77.8% | -$5.00 |
| $4.08 | -55.7% | -$5.00 |
| $6.11 | -33.6% | -$5.00 |
| $8.14 | -11.5% | -$5.00 |
| $10.18 | +10.6% | -$5.00 |
| $12.21 | +32.7% | -$5.00 |
| $14.24 | +54.8% | -$5.00 |
| $16.27 | +76.9% | -$5.00 |
| $18.31 | +99.0% | -$5.00 |
When traders use butterfly on MARA
Butterflies on MARA are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect MARA 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.
MARA thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for MARA extends from approximately $7.18 on the downside to $11.22 on the upside. A MARA long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if MARA settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current MARA IV rank near 24.86% 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 MARA at 76.41%. As a Financial Services name, MARA options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to MARA-specific events.
MARA 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. MARA positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move MARA alongside the broader basket even when MARA-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current MARA chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on MARA?
- A butterfly on MARA is the butterfly strategy applied to MARA (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 MARA stock at $9.20 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed MARA chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are MARA 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 MARA butterfly priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 76.41%), the computed maximum profit is $42.40 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$5.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a MARA butterfly?
- The breakeven for the MARA butterfly priced on this page is roughly $8.55 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 MARA market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 21.91%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on MARA?
- Butterflies on MARA are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect MARA 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 MARA implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- MARA ATM IV is at 76.41% with IV rank near 24.86%, 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.