QNST Butterfly Strategy
QNST (QuinStreet, Inc.), in the Communication Services sector, (Advertising Agencies industry), listed on NASDAQ.
QuinStreet, Inc., an online performance marketing company, provides customer acquisition services for its clients in the United States and internationally. The company offers online marketing services, such as qualified clicks, leads, calls, applications, and customers through its websites or third-party publishers. It serves financial and home services industries. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Foster City, California.
QNST (QuinStreet, Inc.) trades in the Communication Services sector, specifically Advertising Agencies, with a market capitalization of approximately $658.3M, a trailing P/E of 10.11, a beta of 0.72 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 10.29-17.13, average daily share volume of 816K, a public-listing history dating back to 2010, approximately 899 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how QNST stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.72 places QNST roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 10.11 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 QNST?
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 QNST snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $11.28, ATM IV 62.20%, IV rank 17.88%, expected move 17.83%. The butterfly on QNST 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 QNST specifically: QNST IV at 62.20% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a QNST butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 17.83% (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 QNST expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on QNST should anchor to the underlying notional of $11.28 per share and to the trader's directional view on QNST stock.
QNST butterfly setup
The QNST 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 QNST near $11.28, the first option leg uses a $10.72 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed QNST 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 QNST shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $10.72 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $11.28 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $11.84 | N/A |
QNST 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.
QNST butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on QNST. 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 QNST
Butterflies on QNST are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect QNST 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.
QNST thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for QNST extends from approximately $9.27 on the downside to $13.29 on the upside. A QNST long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if QNST settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current QNST IV rank near 17.88% 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 QNST at 62.20%. As a Communication Services name, QNST options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to QNST-specific events.
QNST 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. QNST positions also carry Communication Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move QNST alongside the broader basket even when QNST-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current QNST chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on QNST?
- A butterfly on QNST is the butterfly strategy applied to QNST (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 QNST stock trading near $11.28, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed QNST chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are QNST 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 QNST butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 62.20%), 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 QNST butterfly?
- The breakeven for the QNST 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 QNST market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 17.83%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on QNST?
- Butterflies on QNST are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect QNST 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 QNST implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- QNST ATM IV is at 62.20% with IV rank near 17.88%, 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.