PHAT Butterfly Strategy
PHAT (Phathom Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Phathom Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing treatments for gastrointestinal diseases. The company has the rights in the United States, Europe, and Canada to vonoprazan, a potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB) that blocks acid secretion in the stomach. It is also developing vonoprazan, which is in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of erosive gastroesophageal reflux disease; and in combination with antibiotics for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection. Phathom Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey.
PHAT (Phathom Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.00B, a beta of 0.57 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 3.1-18.31, average daily share volume of 1.2M, a public-listing history dating back to 2019, approximately 427 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PHAT stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.57 indicates PHAT has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure.
What is a butterfly on PHAT?
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 PHAT snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $12.00, ATM IV 106.80%, IV rank 22.41%, expected move 30.62%. The butterfly on PHAT 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 PHAT specifically: PHAT IV at 106.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a PHAT butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 30.62% (roughly $3.67 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 PHAT expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PHAT should anchor to the underlying notional of $12.00 per share and to the trader's directional view on PHAT stock.
PHAT butterfly setup
The PHAT 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 PHAT near $12.00, the first option leg uses a $11.40 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PHAT 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 PHAT shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $11.40 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $12.00 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $12.60 | N/A |
PHAT butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- N/A
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Breakeven(s)
- None on modeled curve
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- N/A
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.
PHAT butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on PHAT. 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.
When traders use butterfly on PHAT
Butterflies on PHAT are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect PHAT 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.
PHAT thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PHAT extends from approximately $8.33 on the downside to $15.67 on the upside. A PHAT long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if PHAT settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current PHAT IV rank near 22.41% 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 PHAT at 106.80%. As a Healthcare name, PHAT options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PHAT-specific events.
PHAT 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. PHAT positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move PHAT alongside the broader basket even when PHAT-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current PHAT chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on PHAT?
- A butterfly on PHAT is the butterfly strategy applied to PHAT (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 PHAT stock trading near $12.00, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PHAT chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are PHAT 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 PHAT butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 106.80%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is unbounded per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a PHAT butterfly?
- The breakeven for the PHAT butterfly priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve 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 PHAT market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 30.62%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on PHAT?
- Butterflies on PHAT are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect PHAT 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 PHAT implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- PHAT ATM IV is at 106.80% with IV rank near 22.41%, 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.