UA Butterfly Strategy
UA (Under Armour, Inc.), in the Consumer Cyclical sector, (Apparel - Manufacturers industry), listed on NYSE.
Under Armour, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the developing, marketing, and distributing performance apparel, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and youth. The company offers its apparel in compression, fitted, and loose fit types. It also provides footwear products for running, training, basketball, cleated sports, recovery, and outdoor applications. In addition, the company offers accessories, which include gloves, bags, headwear, and sports masks; and digital subscription and advertising services under the MapMyRun and MapMyRide platforms. It primarily offers its products under the UNDER ARMOUR, UA, HEATGEAR, COLDGEAR, HOVR, PROTECT THIS HOUSE, I WILL, UA Logo, ARMOUR FLEECE, and ARMOUR BRA brands. The company sells its products through wholesale channels, including national and regional sporting goods chains, independent and specialty retailers, department store chains, mono-branded Under Armour retail stores, institutional athletic departments, and leagues and teams, as well as independent distributors; and directly to consumers through a network of 422 brand and factory house stores, as well as through e-commerce websites.
UA (Under Armour, Inc.) trades in the Consumer Cyclical sector, specifically Apparel - Manufacturers, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.13B, a beta of 1.73 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 3.95-7.9067, average daily share volume of 2.9M, a public-listing history dating back to 2016, approximately 7K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how UA stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.73 indicates UA has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position.
What is a butterfly on UA?
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 UA snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $5.06, ATM IV 285.40%, IV rank 68.63%, expected move 81.82%. The butterfly on UA 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 UA specifically: UA IV at 285.40% 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 81.82% (roughly $4.14 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 UA expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on UA should anchor to the underlying notional of $5.06 per share and to the trader's directional view on UA stock.
UA butterfly setup
The UA 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 UA near $5.06, the first option leg uses a $4.81 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed UA 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 UA shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $4.81 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $5.06 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $5.31 | N/A |
UA 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.
UA butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on UA. 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 UA
Butterflies on UA are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect UA 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.
UA thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for UA extends from approximately $0.92 on the downside to $9.20 on the upside. A UA long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if UA settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current UA IV rank near 68.63% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on UA should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Consumer Cyclical name, UA options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to UA-specific events.
UA 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. UA positions also carry Consumer Cyclical sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move UA alongside the broader basket even when UA-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current UA chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on UA?
- A butterfly on UA is the butterfly strategy applied to UA (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 UA stock trading near $5.06, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed UA chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are UA 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 UA butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 285.40%), 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 UA butterfly?
- The breakeven for the UA 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 UA market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 81.82%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on UA?
- Butterflies on UA are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect UA 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 UA implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- UA ATM IV is at 285.40% with IV rank near 68.63%, 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.