PSNL Butterfly Strategy
PSNL (Personalis, Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Diagnostics & Research industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Personalis, Inc. operates as a cancer genomics company worldwide. The company provides sequencing and data analysis services to support the development of cancer therapies and large-scale genetic research programs. It offers NeXT Platform, which provides data analysis for tumor and its immune microenvironment, from a single limited tissue or plasma sample; ImmunoID Next for tumor profiling from tissue; NeXT Liquid Biopsy for tumor profiling from plasma; NeXT Personal, a liquid biopsy offering for personalized tumor tracking for patients; NeXT Dx Test, a genomic cancer profiling test enabling composite biomarkers for cancer treatment; and NeXT SHERPA and NeXT NEOPS for neoantigen prediction capabilities. The company also provides ACE platform for clinical and therapeutic applications such as neoantigen prediction, biomarker identification, and novel drug target selection. It serves biopharmaceutical customers, universities, non-profits, and government entities. The company has partnership with Mayo Clinic; MapKure, LLC; SpringWorks Therapeutics, Inc.; and Moores Cancer Center.
PSNL (Personalis, Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Diagnostics & Research, with a market capitalization of approximately $567.5M, a beta of 1.97 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 3.84-11.5, average daily share volume of 1.7M, a public-listing history dating back to 2019, approximately 228 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PSNL stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.97 indicates PSNL has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position.
What is a butterfly on PSNL?
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 PSNL snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $6.40, ATM IV 109.30%, IV rank 21.15%, expected move 31.34%. The butterfly on PSNL 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 PSNL specifically: PSNL IV at 109.30% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a PSNL butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 31.34% (roughly $2.01 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 PSNL expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PSNL should anchor to the underlying notional of $6.40 per share and to the trader's directional view on PSNL stock.
PSNL butterfly setup
The PSNL 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 PSNL near $6.40, the first option leg uses a $6.08 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PSNL 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 PSNL shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $6.08 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $6.40 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $6.72 | N/A |
PSNL 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.
PSNL butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on PSNL. 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 PSNL
Butterflies on PSNL are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect PSNL 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.
PSNL thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PSNL extends from approximately $4.39 on the downside to $8.41 on the upside. A PSNL long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if PSNL settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current PSNL IV rank near 21.15% 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 PSNL at 109.30%. As a Healthcare name, PSNL options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PSNL-specific events.
PSNL 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. PSNL positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move PSNL alongside the broader basket even when PSNL-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current PSNL chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on PSNL?
- A butterfly on PSNL is the butterfly strategy applied to PSNL (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 PSNL stock trading near $6.40, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PSNL chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are PSNL 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 PSNL butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 109.30%), 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 PSNL butterfly?
- The breakeven for the PSNL 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 PSNL market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 31.34%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on PSNL?
- Butterflies on PSNL are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect PSNL 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 PSNL implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- PSNL ATM IV is at 109.30% with IV rank near 21.15%, 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.