TTD Butterfly Strategy
TTD (The Trade Desk, Inc.), in the Technology sector, (Software - Services industry), listed on NASDAQ.
The Trade Desk, Inc. is a global technology company that provides a self-service, cloud-based platform. This platform enables advertising buyers to efficiently create, manage, and optimize data-driven digital ad campaigns across diverse formats and channels, including display, video, audio, native, and social media, reaching audiences on computers, mobile devices, and connected TVs. In addition to the platform, the company offers various data and value-added services. Their primary clients are advertising agencies and other service providers who represent advertisers. The Trade Desk was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Ventura, California.
TTD (The Trade Desk, Inc.) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Software - Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $6.34B, a trailing P/E of 15.53, a beta of 1.04 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 12.83-56.39, average daily share volume of 20.7M, a public-listing history dating back to 2016, approximately 4K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how TTD stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.04 places TTD roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a butterfly on TTD?
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.
TTD snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $14.14, ATM IV 51.14%, IV rank 16.93%, expected move 14.66%. The butterfly on TTD below is built from the August 14, 2026 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 TTD specifically: TTD IV at 51.14% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a TTD butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 14.66% (roughly $2.07 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 TTD expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on TTD should anchor to the underlying notional of $14.14 per share and to the trader's directional view on TTD stock.
TTD butterfly setup
The TTD butterfly below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With TTD at $14.14 on that close, the first option leg uses a $13.50 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed TTD 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 TTD shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $13.50 | $1.16 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $14.00 | $0.88 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $15.00 | $0.48 |
TTD butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$12.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $55.19
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$38.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $14.62
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.452
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.
TTD butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on TTD. 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 | -99.9% | +$12.00 |
| $3.14 | -77.8% | +$12.00 |
| $6.26 | -55.7% | +$12.00 |
| $9.39 | -33.6% | +$12.00 |
| $12.51 | -11.5% | +$12.00 |
| $15.64 | +10.6% | -$38.00 |
| $18.76 | +32.7% | -$38.00 |
| $21.89 | +54.8% | -$38.00 |
| $25.01 | +76.9% | -$38.00 |
| $28.14 | +99.0% | -$38.00 |
When traders use butterfly on TTD
Butterflies on TTD are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect TTD 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.
TTD thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for TTD extends from approximately $12.07 on the downside to $16.21 on the upside. A TTD long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if TTD settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current TTD IV rank near 16.93% 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 TTD at 51.14%. As a Technology name, TTD options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to TTD-specific events.
TTD 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. TTD positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move TTD alongside the broader basket even when TTD-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current TTD chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on TTD?
- A butterfly on TTD is the butterfly strategy applied to TTD (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 TTD stock at $14.14 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed TTD chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are TTD 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 TTD butterfly priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 51.14%), the computed maximum profit is $55.19 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$38.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a TTD butterfly?
- The breakeven for the TTD butterfly priced on this page is roughly $14.62 at expiration, derived from the August 14, 2026 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 TTD market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 14.66%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on TTD?
- Butterflies on TTD are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect TTD 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 TTD implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- TTD ATM IV is at 51.14% with IV rank near 16.93%, 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.