NDAQ Butterfly Strategy
NDAQ (Nasdaq, Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Financial - Data & Stock Exchanges industry), listed on NASDAQ.
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NDAQ (Nasdaq, Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Financial - Data & Stock Exchanges, with a market capitalization of approximately $53.47B, a trailing P/E of 27.42, a beta of 0.97 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 76.55-101.79, average daily share volume of 3.8M, a public-listing history dating back to 2002, approximately 10K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how NDAQ stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.97 places NDAQ roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. NDAQ pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on NDAQ?
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.
NDAQ snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $97.07, ATM IV 25.00%, IV rank 39.99%, expected move 7.17%. The butterfly on NDAQ 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 NDAQ specifically: NDAQ IV at 25.00% 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 7.17% (roughly $6.96 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 NDAQ expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on NDAQ should anchor to the underlying notional of $97.07 per share and to the trader's directional view on NDAQ stock.
NDAQ butterfly setup
The NDAQ 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 NDAQ at $97.07 on that close, the first option leg uses a $92.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed NDAQ 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 NDAQ shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $92.00 | $6.20 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $97.00 | $2.80 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $102.00 | $1.00 |
NDAQ butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$160.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $298.72
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$160.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $93.60, $100.40
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.867
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.
NDAQ butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on NDAQ. 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% | -$160.00 |
| $21.47 | -77.9% | -$160.00 |
| $42.93 | -55.8% | -$160.00 |
| $64.39 | -33.7% | -$160.00 |
| $85.86 | -11.6% | -$160.00 |
| $107.32 | +10.6% | -$160.00 |
| $128.78 | +32.7% | -$160.00 |
| $150.24 | +54.8% | -$160.00 |
| $171.70 | +76.9% | -$160.00 |
| $193.16 | +99.0% | -$160.00 |
When traders use butterfly on NDAQ
Butterflies on NDAQ are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect NDAQ 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.
NDAQ thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for NDAQ extends from approximately $90.11 on the downside to $104.03 on the upside. A NDAQ long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if NDAQ settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current NDAQ IV rank near 39.99% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on NDAQ should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Financial Services name, NDAQ options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to NDAQ-specific events.
NDAQ 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. NDAQ positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move NDAQ alongside the broader basket even when NDAQ-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current NDAQ chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on NDAQ?
- A butterfly on NDAQ is the butterfly strategy applied to NDAQ (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 NDAQ stock at $97.07 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed NDAQ chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are NDAQ 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 NDAQ butterfly priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 25.00%), the computed maximum profit is $298.72 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$160.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a NDAQ butterfly?
- The breakeven for the NDAQ butterfly priced on this page is roughly $93.60 and $100.40 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 NDAQ market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 7.17%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on NDAQ?
- Butterflies on NDAQ are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect NDAQ 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 NDAQ implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- NDAQ ATM IV is at 25.00% with IV rank near 39.99%, 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.