SES Butterfly Strategy
SES (SES AI Corporation), in the Consumer Cyclical sector, (Auto - Parts industry), listed on NYSE.
SES AI Corporation engages in the development and production of high-performance Lithium-metal rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and other applications. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
SES (SES AI Corporation) trades in the Consumer Cyclical sector, specifically Auto - Parts, with a market capitalization of approximately $375.4M, a beta of 0.85 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 0.8-3.73, average daily share volume of 9.3M, a public-listing history dating back to 2021, approximately 250 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how SES stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.85 places SES roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a butterfly on SES?
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 SES snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $1.15, ATM IV 22.80%, IV rank 4.38%, expected move 6.54%. The butterfly on SES 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 SES specifically: SES IV at 22.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a SES butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 6.54% (roughly $0.08 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 SES expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on SES should anchor to the underlying notional of $1.15 per share and to the trader's directional view on SES stock.
SES butterfly setup
The SES 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 SES near $1.15, the first option leg uses a $1.09 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed SES 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 SES shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $1.09 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $1.15 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $1.21 | N/A |
SES 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.
SES butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on SES. 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 SES
Butterflies on SES are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect SES 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.
SES thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for SES extends from approximately $1.07 on the downside to $1.23 on the upside. A SES long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if SES settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current SES IV rank near 4.38% 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 SES at 22.80%. As a Consumer Cyclical name, SES options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to SES-specific events.
SES 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. SES positions also carry Consumer Cyclical sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move SES alongside the broader basket even when SES-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current SES chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on SES?
- A butterfly on SES is the butterfly strategy applied to SES (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 SES stock trading near $1.15, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed SES chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are SES 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 SES butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 22.80%), 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 SES butterfly?
- The breakeven for the SES 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 SES market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 6.54%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on SES?
- Butterflies on SES are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect SES 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 SES implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- SES ATM IV is at 22.80% with IV rank near 4.38%, 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.