PLRX Butterfly Strategy
PLRX (Pliant Therapeutics, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company in the clinical development stage, dedicated to discovering, advancing, and bringing to market innovative therapies for fibrotic and related diseases across the United States. Its flagship investigational product, PLN-74809, is an orally administered, small-molecule, dual-selective inhibitor targeting both avß6 and avß1 integrins, which is currently progressing through three distinct Phase 2a clinical trials. The company's pipeline also includes PLN-1474, a small-molecule selective inhibitor of avß1, which has successfully completed its Phase 1 clinical assessment for treating liver fibrosis associated with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Furthermore, Pliant is nurturing two additional integrin-based initiatives in preclinical development: one focused on oncology, and another involving an allosteric agonistic monoclonal antibody designed to act upon an undisclosed integrin receptor for the treatment of various muscular dystrophies, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Founded in 2015, Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. maintains its corporate headquarters in South San Francisco, California.
PLRX (Pliant Therapeutics, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $70.6M, a beta of 1.21 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 1.09-1.95, average daily share volume of 490K, a public-listing history dating back to 2020, approximately 171 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PLRX stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.21 places PLRX roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a butterfly on PLRX?
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 PLRX snapshot
As of June 30, 2026, spot at $1.15, ATM IV 241.90%, IV rank 60.51%, expected move 69.35%. The butterfly on PLRX 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 17-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on PLRX specifically: PLRX IV at 241.90% 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 69.35% (roughly $0.80 on the underlying). The 17-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated PLRX expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PLRX should anchor to the underlying notional of $1.15 per share and to the trader's directional view on PLRX stock.
PLRX butterfly setup
The PLRX 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 PLRX near $1.15, the first option leg uses a $1.09 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PLRX chain at a 17-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 PLRX shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $1.09 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $1.15 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $1.21 | N/A |
PLRX 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.
PLRX butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on PLRX. 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 PLRX
Butterflies on PLRX are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect PLRX 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.
PLRX thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PLRX extends from approximately $0.35 on the downside to $1.95 on the upside. A PLRX long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if PLRX settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current PLRX IV rank near 60.51% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on PLRX should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Healthcare name, PLRX options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PLRX-specific events.
PLRX 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. PLRX positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move PLRX alongside the broader basket even when PLRX-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current PLRX chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on PLRX?
- A butterfly on PLRX is the butterfly strategy applied to PLRX (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 PLRX stock trading near $1.15, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PLRX chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are PLRX 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 PLRX butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 241.90%), 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 PLRX butterfly?
- The breakeven for the PLRX 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 PLRX market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 69.35%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on PLRX?
- Butterflies on PLRX are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect PLRX 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 PLRX implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- PLRX ATM IV is at 241.90% with IV rank near 60.51%, 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.