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 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 33.89%), the computed maximum profit is $296.84 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$70.00 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 $75.70 and $82.30 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 NDAQ market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.72%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.

How does current NDAQ implied volatility affect this butterfly?

NDAQ ATM IV is at 33.89% with IV rank near 72.61%, which is elevated relative to its 1-year range. Premium-selling structures (covered call, cash-secured put, iron condor) generally look more attractive when IV rank is high; premium-buying structures (long call, long put, debit spreads) are more expensive in that regime.

NDAQ Butterfly Strategy

NDAQ (Nasdaq, Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Financial - Data & Stock Exchanges industry), listed on NASDAQ.

Nasdaq, Inc., a technology powerhouse founded in 1971 and based in New York City, is dedicated to supporting capital markets and various other sectors worldwide. Its Market Technology division specializes in fighting financial crime, offering products like Nasdaq Trade Surveillance, a SaaS solution that assists brokers and market participants in meeting compliance requirements and internal surveillance policies. This segment also provides Nasdaq Automated Investigator, a cloud-deployed anti-money laundering tool, and Verafin, a SaaS provider for anti-financial crime management. Furthermore, this division handles a wide array of assets, including cash equities, equity derivatives, global currencies, interest-bearing securities, commodities, energy resources, and digital currencies. The Investment Intelligence segment is responsible for distributing both historical and live market data, creating and licensing Nasdaq-branded financial indexes and products, and delivering valuable investment insights and workflow solutions. Through its Corporate Platforms, Nasdaq manages operational listing venues and furnishes specialized intelligence for investor relations, alongside comprehensive governance services.

NDAQ (Nasdaq, Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Financial - Data & Stock Exchanges, with a market capitalization of approximately $44.43B, a trailing P/E of 23.28, a beta of 0.97 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 77.09-101.79, average daily share volume of 3.6M, a public-listing history dating back to 2002, approximately 9K 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.

Current NDAQ snapshot

As of June 30, 2026, spot at $78.93, ATM IV 33.89%, IV rank 72.61%, expected move 9.72%. The butterfly on NDAQ 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 31-day expiry.

Why this butterfly structure on NDAQ specifically: NDAQ IV at 33.89% is rich versus its 1-year range, which makes a premium-buying NDAQ butterfly relatively expensive in absolute-cost terms, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 9.72% (roughly $7.67 on the underlying). The 31-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 $78.93 per share and to the trader's directional view on NDAQ stock.

NDAQ butterfly setup

The NDAQ 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 NDAQ near $78.93, the first option leg uses a $75.00 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 31-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	$75.00	$5.55
Sell 2	Call	$79.00	$3.23
Buy 1	Call	$83.00	$1.60

NDAQ butterfly risk and reward

Net Premium / Debit: -$70.00
Max Profit (per contract): $296.84
Max Loss (per contract): -$70.00
Breakeven(s): $75.70, $82.30
Risk / Reward Ratio: 4.241

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.

P&L at expiration across the modeled underlying-price range. Green shading marks profitable regions, red shading marks loss regions. Dotted purple verticals mark breakevens; the solid dark vertical marks current spot.

Underlying Price	% From Spot	P&L at Expiration
$0.01	-100.0%	-$70.00
$17.46	-77.9%	-$70.00
$34.91	-55.8%	-$70.00
$52.36	-33.7%	-$70.00
$69.81	-11.6%	-$70.00
$87.26	+10.6%	-$70.00
$104.71	+32.7%	-$70.00
$122.17	+54.8%	-$70.00
$139.62	+76.9%	-$70.00
$157.07	+99.0%	-$70.00

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 $71.26 on the downside to $86.60 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 72.61% sits in the upper third of its 1-year distribution, which historically reverts; this raises the bar for premium-buying structures and lowers it for premium-selling structures on NDAQ at 33.89%. 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 trading near $78.93, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed NDAQ chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day 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 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 33.89%), the computed maximum profit is $296.84 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$70.00 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 $75.70 and $82.30 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 NDAQ market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.72%; 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 33.89% with IV rank near 72.61%, which is elevated relative to its 1-year range. Premium-selling structures (covered call, cash-secured put, iron condor) generally look more attractive when IV rank is high; premium-buying structures (long call, long put, debit spreads) are more expensive in that regime.