PLUS Butterfly Strategy
PLUS (ePlus inc.), in the Technology sector, (Software - Application industry), listed on NASDAQ.
ePlus inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) solutions that enable organizations to optimize IT environment and supply chain processes in the United States and internationally. The company sells third-party hardware, perpetual and subscription software, and maintenance; and software assurance and other third-party services. It also offers professional services, such as staff augmentation, project management, cloud consulting, Al advisory, consulting, security and collaboration solution, warehouse, configuration, and logistic service, as well as in the spaces of digital signage, EV charging solution, loss prevention and security, store opening, remodel, and store closing; and managed services comprising enhanced maintenance support or ePlus Lifecycle-Services Support, service desk, storage-as-a-service, azure recover, cloud managed, and managed security service, as well as managed service for infrastructure and cloud. In addition, the company offers financing arrangements, including sales-type and operating leases, loan, and consumption-based financing arrangement, as well as underwriting and management, and disposal of IT equipment and assets; and financing operations, such as sales, pricing, credit, contract, accounting, risk management, and asset management. Further, it finances IT equipment, communication-related equipment, medical equipment, industrial machinery and equipment, office furniture and general office equipment, transportation equipment, and other general business equipment; and provides financing solutions, including front-end processing, lifecycle and asset ownership, and end-of-life services. The company serves telecom, media and entertainment, technology, state and local government, educational institutions, healthcare, and financial services.
PLUS (ePlus inc.) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Software - Application, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.32B, a trailing P/E of 18.30, a beta of 0.98 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 69.07-98.14, average daily share volume of 235K, a public-listing history dating back to 1996, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PLUS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.98 places PLUS roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. PLUS pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on PLUS?
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.
PLUS snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $88.45, ATM IV 29.90%, IV rank 3.21%, expected move 8.57%. The butterfly on PLUS 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 217-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on PLUS specifically: PLUS IV at 29.90% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a PLUS butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 8.57% (roughly $7.58 on the underlying). The 217-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated PLUS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PLUS should anchor to the underlying notional of $88.45 per share and to the trader's directional view on PLUS stock.
PLUS butterfly setup
The PLUS 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 PLUS at $88.45 on that close, the first option leg uses a $85.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PLUS chain at a 217-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 PLUS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $85.00 | $11.75 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $90.00 | $9.00 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $95.00 | $7.00 |
PLUS butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$75.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $403.83
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$75.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $85.75, $94.25
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 5.384
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.
PLUS butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on PLUS. 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% | -$75.00 |
| $19.57 | -77.9% | -$75.00 |
| $39.12 | -55.8% | -$75.00 |
| $58.68 | -33.7% | -$75.00 |
| $78.23 | -11.6% | -$75.00 |
| $97.79 | +10.6% | -$75.00 |
| $117.34 | +32.7% | -$75.00 |
| $136.90 | +54.8% | -$75.00 |
| $156.46 | +76.9% | -$75.00 |
| $176.01 | +99.0% | -$75.00 |
When traders use butterfly on PLUS
Butterflies on PLUS are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect PLUS 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.
PLUS thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PLUS extends from approximately $80.87 on the downside to $96.03 on the upside. A PLUS long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if PLUS settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current PLUS IV rank near 3.21% 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 PLUS at 29.90%. As a Technology name, PLUS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PLUS-specific events.
PLUS 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. PLUS positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move PLUS alongside the broader basket even when PLUS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current PLUS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on PLUS?
- A butterfly on PLUS is the butterfly strategy applied to PLUS (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 PLUS stock at $88.45 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PLUS chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are PLUS 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 PLUS butterfly priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 29.90%), the computed maximum profit is $403.83 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$75.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a PLUS butterfly?
- The breakeven for the PLUS butterfly priced on this page is roughly $85.75 and $94.25 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 PLUS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 8.57%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on PLUS?
- Butterflies on PLUS are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect PLUS 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 PLUS implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- PLUS ATM IV is at 29.90% with IV rank near 3.21%, 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.