PJT Butterfly Strategy
PJT (PJT Partners Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Investment - Banking & Investment Services industry), listed on NYSE.
PJT Partners Inc., an investment bank, provides various strategic advisory, shareholder advisory, capital markets advisory, and restructuring and special situations services to corporations, financial sponsors, institutional investors, and governments worldwide. It offers advisory services to clients on various transactions, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), spin-offs, activism defense, contested M&A, joint ventures, minority investments, and divestitures. The company also provides advisory services for private and public company boards and management teams on strategies for building productive investor relationships with a focus on shareholder engagement; complex investor matters; and other critical strategic, governance, and shareholder matters. In addition, it offers advisory services related to debt and equity markets, including debt financings, acquisition financings, structured product offerings, public equity raises initial public offerings, private capital raises, general partner advisory, and other capital structure related matters. Further, the company provides geopolitical and policy advisory practice that assists corporate boards and management teams with navigating changing geopolitical relationships. Additionally, it offers advisory services in the areas of liability management, and restructurings and special situations comprising bespoke financing, tort liability resolutions, distressed M&A, and chapter 11 matters, as well as to corporate clients, financial sponsors, and creditors.
PJT (PJT Partners Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Investment - Banking & Investment Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.36B, a trailing P/E of 22.68, a beta of 0.83 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 127.73-195.62, average daily share volume of 418K, a public-listing history dating back to 2015, approximately 1K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PJT stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.83 places PJT roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. PJT pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on PJT?
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.
PJT snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $174.92, ATM IV 35.30%, IV rank 50.04%, expected move 10.12%. The butterfly on PJT 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 35-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on PJT specifically: PJT IV at 35.30% 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 10.12% (roughly $17.70 on the underlying). The 35-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated PJT expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PJT should anchor to the underlying notional of $174.92 per share and to the trader's directional view on PJT stock.
PJT butterfly setup
The PJT 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 PJT at $174.92 on that close, the first option leg uses a $165.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PJT chain at a 35-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 PJT shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $165.00 | $14.05 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $175.00 | $8.00 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $185.00 | $3.55 |
PJT butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$160.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $759.60
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$160.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $166.60, $183.40
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 4.748
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.
PJT butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on PJT. 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 |
| $38.68 | -77.9% | -$160.00 |
| $77.36 | -55.8% | -$160.00 |
| $116.03 | -33.7% | -$160.00 |
| $154.71 | -11.6% | -$160.00 |
| $193.38 | +10.6% | -$160.00 |
| $232.06 | +32.7% | -$160.00 |
| $270.73 | +54.8% | -$160.00 |
| $309.41 | +76.9% | -$160.00 |
| $348.08 | +99.0% | -$160.00 |
When traders use butterfly on PJT
Butterflies on PJT are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect PJT 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.
PJT thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PJT extends from approximately $157.22 on the downside to $192.62 on the upside. A PJT long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if PJT settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current PJT IV rank near 50.04% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on PJT should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Financial Services name, PJT options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PJT-specific events.
PJT 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. PJT positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move PJT alongside the broader basket even when PJT-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current PJT chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on PJT?
- A butterfly on PJT is the butterfly strategy applied to PJT (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 PJT stock at $174.92 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PJT chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are PJT 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 PJT butterfly priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 35.30%), the computed maximum profit is $759.60 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 PJT butterfly?
- The breakeven for the PJT butterfly priced on this page is roughly $166.60 and $183.40 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 PJT market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 10.12%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on PJT?
- Butterflies on PJT are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect PJT 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 PJT implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- PJT ATM IV is at 35.30% with IV rank near 50.04%, 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.