TDAY Butterfly Strategy
TDAY (USA TODAY Co. Inc.), in the Communication Services sector, (Publishing industry), listed on NYSE.
USA TODAY Co., Inc. operates as a media and digital marketing solutions company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Domestic Gannett Media, Newsquest, and Digital Marketing Solutions. The company’s print offerings include home delivery on a subscription basis; single copy; and non-daily publications, such as shoppers and niche publications. It also provides digital-only subscription, including local media brands, USA TODAY NETWORK community events platform, magazines, sports, and games; and E-newspapers; and digital advertising and marketing services. In addition, the company offers digital news and media brands; daily and weekly newspapers; digital advertising and marketing products and solutions under the LocaliQ brand; cloud-based platform that offers a suite of products and solutions for marketing automation, AI-driven advertising optimization, and customizable reporting; commercial printing and distribution arrangements services; and prints commercial materials, including flyers, business cards, and invitations. USA TODAY Co., Inc. was formerly known as Gannett Co., Inc. and changed its name to USA TODAY Co., Inc. in October 2025.
TDAY (USA TODAY Co. Inc.) trades in the Communication Services sector, specifically Publishing, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.01B, a beta of 1.40 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 3.42-9.21, average daily share volume of 1.7M, a public-listing history dating back to 2014, approximately 10K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how TDAY stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.40 indicates TDAY has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position. TDAY pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on TDAY?
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.
TDAY snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $7.06, ATM IV 25.80%, IV rank 2.94%, expected move 7.40%. The butterfly on TDAY below is built from the end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 35-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on TDAY specifically: TDAY IV at 25.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a TDAY butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 7.40% (roughly $0.52 on the underlying). The 35-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated TDAY expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on TDAY should anchor to the underlying notional of $7.06 per share and to the trader's directional view on TDAY stock.
TDAY butterfly setup
The TDAY 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 TDAY at $7.06 on that close, the first option leg uses a $6.71 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed TDAY chain at a 35-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 TDAY shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $6.71 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $7.06 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $7.41 | N/A |
TDAY 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.
TDAY butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on TDAY. 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 TDAY
Butterflies on TDAY are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect TDAY 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.
TDAY thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for TDAY extends from approximately $6.54 on the downside to $7.58 on the upside. A TDAY long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if TDAY settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current TDAY IV rank near 2.94% 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 TDAY at 25.80%. As a Communication Services name, TDAY options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to TDAY-specific events.
TDAY 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. TDAY positions also carry Communication Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move TDAY alongside the broader basket even when TDAY-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current TDAY chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on TDAY?
- A butterfly on TDAY is the butterfly strategy applied to TDAY (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 TDAY stock at $7.06 on the most recent close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed TDAY chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are TDAY 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 TDAY butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 25.80%), 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 TDAY butterfly?
- The breakeven for the TDAY butterfly priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve at expiration, derived from the end-of-day chain's premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The TDAY market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 7.40%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on TDAY?
- Butterflies on TDAY are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect TDAY 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 TDAY implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- TDAY ATM IV is at 25.80% with IV rank near 2.94%, 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.