RCI Butterfly Strategy
RCI (Rogers Communications Inc.), in the Communication Services sector, (Telecommunications Services industry), listed on NYSE.
Rogers Communications Inc. operates as a communications and media company in Canada. It operates through three segments: Wireless, Cable, and Media. The company offers mobile Internet access, wireless voice and enhanced voice, device and accessory financing, wireless home phone, device protection, e-mail, global voice and data roaming, bridging landline, machine-to-machine and Internet of Things solutions, and advanced wireless solutions for businesses, as well as device delivery services; and postpaid and prepaid services under the Rogers, Fido, and chatr brands to approximately 11.3 million subscribers. It also provides Internet and WiFi services; smart home monitoring services, such as monitoring, security, automation, energy efficiency, and smart control through a smartphone app. In addition, the company offers local and network TV; on-demand television; cloud-based digital video recorders; voice-activated remote controls, and integrated apps; personal video recorders; linear and time-shifted programming; digital specialty channels; 4K television programming; and televised content on smartphones, tablets, and personal computers, as well as operates Ignite TV and Ignite TV app. Further, it provides residential and small business local telephony services; calling features, such as voicemail, call waiting, and long distance; voice, data networking, Internet protocol, and Ethernet services; private networking, Internet, IP voice, and cloud solutions; optical wave and multi-protocol label switching services; IT and network technologies; and cable access network services.
RCI (Rogers Communications Inc.) trades in the Communication Services sector, specifically Telecommunications Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $19.50B, a trailing P/E of 3.76, a beta of 0.78 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 25.05-41.14, average daily share volume of 1.3M, a public-listing history dating back to 1996, approximately 24K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how RCI stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.78 places RCI roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 3.76 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. RCI pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on RCI?
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 RCI snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $35.38, ATM IV 31.30%, IV rank 8.73%, expected move 8.97%. The butterfly on RCI 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 RCI specifically: RCI IV at 31.30% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a RCI butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 8.97% (roughly $3.17 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 RCI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on RCI should anchor to the underlying notional of $35.38 per share and to the trader's directional view on RCI stock.
RCI butterfly setup
The RCI 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 RCI near $35.38, the first option leg uses a $33.61 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed RCI 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 RCI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $33.61 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $35.38 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $37.15 | N/A |
RCI 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.
RCI butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on RCI. 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 RCI
Butterflies on RCI are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect RCI 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.
RCI thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for RCI extends from approximately $32.21 on the downside to $38.55 on the upside. A RCI long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if RCI settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current RCI IV rank near 8.73% 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 RCI at 31.30%. As a Communication Services name, RCI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to RCI-specific events.
RCI 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. RCI positions also carry Communication Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move RCI alongside the broader basket even when RCI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current RCI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on RCI?
- A butterfly on RCI is the butterfly strategy applied to RCI (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 RCI stock trading near $35.38, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed RCI chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are RCI 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 RCI butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 31.30%), 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 RCI butterfly?
- The breakeven for the RCI 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 RCI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 8.97%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on RCI?
- Butterflies on RCI are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect RCI 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 RCI implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- RCI ATM IV is at 31.30% with IV rank near 8.73%, 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.