TMUS Butterfly Strategy
TMUS (T-Mobile US, Inc.), in the Communication Services sector, (Telecommunications Services industry), listed on NASDAQ.
T-Mobile US, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides mobile communications services in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The company offers voice, messaging, and data services to 108.7 million customers in the postpaid, prepaid, and wholesale markets. It also provides wireless devices, including smartphones, wearables, and tablets and other mobile communication devices, as well as wireless devices and accessories. In addition, the company offers services, devices, and accessories under the T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile brands through its owned and operated retail stores, T-Mobile app and customer care channels, and its websites. It also sells its devices to dealers and other third-party distributors for resale through independent third-party retail outlets and various third-party websites. As of December 31, 2021, it operated approximately 102,000 macro cell and 41,000 small cell/distributed antenna system sites.
TMUS (T-Mobile US, Inc.) trades in the Communication Services sector, specifically Telecommunications Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $205.92B, a trailing P/E of 19.86, a beta of 0.32 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 181.36-261.56, average daily share volume of 5.8M, a public-listing history dating back to 2007, approximately 70K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how TMUS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.32 indicates TMUS has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. TMUS pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on TMUS?
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 TMUS snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $185.34, ATM IV 29.04%, IV rank 45.94%, expected move 8.32%. The butterfly on TMUS 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 28-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on TMUS specifically: TMUS IV at 29.04% 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 8.32% (roughly $15.43 on the underlying). The 28-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated TMUS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on TMUS should anchor to the underlying notional of $185.34 per share and to the trader's directional view on TMUS stock.
TMUS butterfly setup
The TMUS 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 TMUS near $185.34, the first option leg uses a $175.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed TMUS chain at a 28-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 TMUS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $175.00 | $12.65 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $185.00 | $5.80 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $195.00 | $2.28 |
TMUS butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$332.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $608.87
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$332.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $178.33, $191.68
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.831
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.
TMUS butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on TMUS. 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% | -$332.50 |
| $40.99 | -77.9% | -$332.50 |
| $81.97 | -55.8% | -$332.50 |
| $122.95 | -33.7% | -$332.50 |
| $163.92 | -11.6% | -$332.50 |
| $204.90 | +10.6% | -$332.50 |
| $245.88 | +32.7% | -$332.50 |
| $286.86 | +54.8% | -$332.50 |
| $327.84 | +76.9% | -$332.50 |
| $368.82 | +99.0% | -$332.50 |
When traders use butterfly on TMUS
Butterflies on TMUS are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect TMUS 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.
TMUS thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for TMUS extends from approximately $169.91 on the downside to $200.77 on the upside. A TMUS long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if TMUS settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current TMUS IV rank near 45.94% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on TMUS should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Communication Services name, TMUS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to TMUS-specific events.
TMUS 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. TMUS positions also carry Communication Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move TMUS alongside the broader basket even when TMUS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current TMUS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on TMUS?
- A butterfly on TMUS is the butterfly strategy applied to TMUS (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 TMUS stock trading near $185.34, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed TMUS chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are TMUS 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 TMUS butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 29.04%), the computed maximum profit is $608.87 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$332.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a TMUS butterfly?
- The breakeven for the TMUS butterfly priced on this page is roughly $178.33 and $191.68 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 TMUS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 8.32%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on TMUS?
- Butterflies on TMUS are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect TMUS 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 TMUS implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- TMUS ATM IV is at 29.04% with IV rank near 45.94%, 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.