How are PFE 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 PFE butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 22.44%), the computed maximum profit is $80.87 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$111.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.

What is the breakeven for a PFE butterfly?

The breakeven for the PFE butterfly priced on this page is roughly $24.09 and $25.89 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 PFE market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 6.43%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.

How does current PFE implied volatility affect this butterfly?

PFE ATM IV is at 22.44% with IV rank near 28.63%, 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.

PFE Butterfly Strategy

PFE (Pfizer Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Drug Manufacturers - General industry), listed on NYSE.

Pfizer Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products worldwide. It offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular metabolic and women's health under the Premarin family and Eliquis brands; biologics, small molecules, immunotherapies, and biosimilars under the Ibrance, Xtandi, Sutent, Inlyta, Retacrit, Lorbrena, and Braftovi brands; and sterile injectable and anti-infective medicines, and oral COVID-19 treatment under the Sulperazon, Medrol, Zavicefta, Zithromax, Vfend, Panzyga, and Paxlovid brands. The company also provides medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, such as pneumococcal disease, meningococcal disease, tick-borne encephalitis, and COVID-19 under the Comirnaty/BNT162b2, Nimenrix, FSME/IMMUN-TicoVac, Trumenba, and the Prevnar family brands; biosimilars for chronic immune and inflammatory diseases under the Xeljanz, Enbrel, Inflectra, Eucrisa/Staquis, and Cibinqo brands; and amyloidosis, hemophilia, and endocrine diseases under the Vyndaqel/Vyndamax, BeneFIX, and Genotropin brands. In addition, the company is involved in the contract manufacturing business. It serves wholesalers, retailers, hospitals, clinics, government agencies, pharmacies, and individual provider offices, as well as disease control and prevention centers. The company has collaboration agreements with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Astellas Pharma US, Inc.; Myovant Sciences Ltd.; Akcea Therapeutics, Inc; Merck KGaA; Valneva SE; BioNTech SE; and Arvinas, Inc.

PFE (Pfizer Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Drug Manufacturers - General, with a market capitalization of approximately $147.96B, a trailing P/E of 19.72, a beta of 0.31 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 22.09-28.75, average daily share volume of 38.1M, a public-listing history dating back to 1972, approximately 81K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PFE stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.

A beta of 0.31 indicates PFE has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. PFE pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.

What is a butterfly on PFE?

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 PFE snapshot

As of May 15, 2026, spot at $25.30, ATM IV 22.44%, IV rank 28.63%, expected move 6.43%. The butterfly on PFE 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 PFE specifically: PFE IV at 22.44% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a PFE butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 6.43% (roughly $1.63 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 PFE expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PFE should anchor to the underlying notional of $25.30 per share and to the trader's directional view on PFE stock.

PFE butterfly setup

The PFE 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 PFE near $25.30, the first option leg uses a $24.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PFE 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 PFE shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).

Action	Type	Strike / Basis	Premium (est)
Buy 1	Call	$24.00	$1.64
Sell 2	Call	$25.00	$0.84
Buy 1	Call	$27.00	$0.16

PFE butterfly risk and reward

Net Premium / Debit: -$11.50
Max Profit (per contract): $80.87
Max Loss (per contract): -$111.50
Breakeven(s): $24.09, $25.89
Risk / Reward Ratio: 0.725

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.

PFE butterfly payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on PFE. 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%	-$11.50
$5.60	-77.9%	-$11.50
$11.20	-55.7%	-$11.50
$16.79	-33.6%	-$11.50
$22.38	-11.5%	-$11.50
$27.97	+10.6%	-$111.50
$33.57	+32.7%	-$111.50
$39.16	+54.8%	-$111.50
$44.75	+76.9%	-$111.50
$50.35	+99.0%	-$111.50

When traders use butterfly on PFE

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

PFE thesis for this butterfly

The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PFE extends from approximately $23.67 on the downside to $26.93 on the upside. A PFE long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if PFE settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current PFE IV rank near 28.63% 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 PFE at 22.44%. As a Healthcare name, PFE options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PFE-specific events.

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

Frequently asked questions

What is a butterfly on PFE?: A butterfly on PFE is the butterfly strategy applied to PFE (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 PFE stock trading near $25.30, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PFE chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
How are PFE 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 PFE butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 22.44%), the computed maximum profit is $80.87 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$111.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
What is the breakeven for a PFE butterfly?: The breakeven for the PFE butterfly priced on this page is roughly $24.09 and $25.89 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 PFE market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 6.43%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
When should you consider a butterfly on PFE?: Butterflies on PFE are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect PFE 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 PFE implied volatility affect this butterfly?: PFE ATM IV is at 22.44% with IV rank near 28.63%, 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.