PLX Butterfly Strategy
PLX (Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Biotechnology industry), listed on AMEX.
Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of recombinant therapeutic proteins based on its proprietary ProCellEx plant cell-based protein expression system in the United States, Australia, Canada, Israel, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, and internationally. The company offers Elelyso for the treatment of Gaucher disease. Its product pipeline comprises PRX-102, a therapeutic protein candidate, which is in the last stage of clinical trials for the treatment of Fabry diseases; PRX-110, a proprietary plant cell recombinant form of human deoxyribonuclease I that has completed phase IIa clinical trials for the treatment of cystic fibrosis; PRX-115, a plant cell-expressed recombinant PEGylated Uricase for the treatment of gout; and PRX-119, a plant cell-expressed PEGylated recombinant human DNase I product candidate for the treatment of NETs-related diseases. The company has agreements and partnerships with Pfizer; Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz); and Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A. The company was founded in 1993 and is based in Hackensack, New Jersey.
PLX (Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Biotechnology, with a market capitalization of approximately $155.5M, a trailing P/E of 10.05, a beta of -0.01 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 1.32-3.19, average daily share volume of 970K, a public-listing history dating back to 1998, approximately 213 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PLX stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of -0.01 indicates PLX has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. The trailing P/E of 10.05 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price.
What is a butterfly on PLX?
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 PLX snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $2.02, ATM IV 476.60%, IV rank 95.33%, expected move 136.64%. The butterfly on PLX 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 PLX specifically: PLX IV at 476.60% is rich versus its 1-year range, which makes a premium-buying PLX butterfly relatively expensive in absolute-cost terms, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 136.64% (roughly $2.76 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 PLX expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PLX should anchor to the underlying notional of $2.02 per share and to the trader's directional view on PLX stock.
PLX butterfly setup
The PLX 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 PLX near $2.02, the first option leg uses a $1.92 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PLX 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 PLX shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $1.92 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $2.02 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $2.12 | N/A |
PLX 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.
PLX butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on PLX. 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 PLX
Butterflies on PLX are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect PLX 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.
PLX thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PLX extends from approximately $-0.74 on the downside to $4.78 on the upside. A PLX long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if PLX settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current PLX IV rank near 95.33% sits in the upper third of its 1-year distribution, which historically reverts; this raises the bar for premium-buying structures and lowers it for premium-selling structures on PLX at 476.60%. As a Healthcare name, PLX options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PLX-specific events.
PLX 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. PLX positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move PLX alongside the broader basket even when PLX-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current PLX chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on PLX?
- A butterfly on PLX is the butterfly strategy applied to PLX (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 PLX stock trading near $2.02, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PLX chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are PLX 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 PLX butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 476.60%), 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 PLX butterfly?
- The breakeven for the PLX 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 PLX market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 136.64%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on PLX?
- Butterflies on PLX are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect PLX 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 PLX implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- PLX ATM IV is at 476.60% with IV rank near 95.33%, which is elevated relative to its 1-year range. Premium-selling structures (covered call, cash-secured put, iron condor) generally look more attractive when IV rank is high; premium-buying structures (long call, long put, debit spreads) are more expensive in that regime.