QLYS Butterfly Strategy
QLYS (Qualys, Inc.), in the Technology sector, (Software - Infrastructure industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Qualys, Inc., founded in 1999 and headquartered in Foster City, California, specializes in delivering cloud-based solutions for information technology (IT) management, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance to organizations globally. The company's integrated Qualys Cloud Platform hosts a comprehensive suite of "Qualys Cloud Apps," encompassing a broad spectrum of services such as vulnerability management, threat detection and response, multi-vector endpoint security, patch management, certificate assessment, web application scanning and firewall, as well as various IT, cloud, and container security and compliance tools. This powerful platform empowers customers to meticulously identify and manage their IT assets, gather and analyze critical security data, proactively uncover and prioritize vulnerabilities, recommend and initiate effective remediation actions, and ultimately verify their successful implementation. Complementing these core functions, Qualys also provides features like advanced asset tagging, intuitive reporting and dashboards, collaborative questionnaires, streamlined remediation workflows, a robust big data correlation and analytics engine, and real-time alerts. These components collectively ensure integrated operations, in-depth real-time analysis, and comprehensive reporting across an organization's entire IT, security, and compliance landscape. Qualys serves a diverse client base, including large enterprises, government entities, and small to medium-sized businesses across numerous sectors such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, education, and technology.
QLYS (Qualys, Inc.) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Software - Infrastructure, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.34B, a trailing P/E of 21.79, a beta of 0.65 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 74.51-155.47, average daily share volume of 836K, a public-listing history dating back to 2012, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how QLYS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.65 indicates QLYS has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure.
What is a butterfly on QLYS?
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 QLYS snapshot
As of June 30, 2026, spot at $136.97, ATM IV 48.50%, IV rank 49.73%, expected move 13.90%. The butterfly on QLYS 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 QLYS specifically: QLYS IV at 48.50% 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 13.90% (roughly $19.04 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 QLYS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on QLYS should anchor to the underlying notional of $136.97 per share and to the trader's directional view on QLYS stock.
QLYS butterfly setup
The QLYS 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 QLYS near $136.97, the first option leg uses a $130.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed QLYS 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 QLYS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $130.00 | $10.25 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $135.00 | $7.25 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $145.00 | $2.95 |
QLYS butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$130.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $621.02
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$370.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $141.30
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.678
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.
QLYS butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on QLYS. 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% | +$130.00 |
| $30.29 | -77.9% | +$130.00 |
| $60.58 | -55.8% | +$130.00 |
| $90.86 | -33.7% | +$130.00 |
| $121.14 | -11.6% | +$130.00 |
| $151.43 | +10.6% | -$370.00 |
| $181.71 | +32.7% | -$370.00 |
| $212.00 | +54.8% | -$370.00 |
| $242.28 | +76.9% | -$370.00 |
| $272.56 | +99.0% | -$370.00 |
When traders use butterfly on QLYS
Butterflies on QLYS are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect QLYS 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.
QLYS thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for QLYS extends from approximately $117.93 on the downside to $156.01 on the upside. A QLYS long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if QLYS settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current QLYS IV rank near 49.73% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on QLYS should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Technology name, QLYS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to QLYS-specific events.
QLYS 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. QLYS positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move QLYS alongside the broader basket even when QLYS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current QLYS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on QLYS?
- A butterfly on QLYS is the butterfly strategy applied to QLYS (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 QLYS stock trading near $136.97, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed QLYS chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are QLYS 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 QLYS butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 48.50%), the computed maximum profit is $621.02 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$370.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a QLYS butterfly?
- The breakeven for the QLYS butterfly priced on this page is roughly $141.30 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 QLYS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 13.90%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on QLYS?
- Butterflies on QLYS are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect QLYS 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 QLYS implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- QLYS ATM IV is at 48.50% with IV rank near 49.73%, 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.