WHG Butterfly Strategy
WHG (Westwood Holdings Group, Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Financial - Capital Markets industry), listed on NYSE.
Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. is an investment management firm that, operating through its various subsidiaries, offers a suite of financial services and actively manages client investment portfolios. The company's business activities are divided into two primary divisions: Advisory and Trust. The Advisory segment specializes in providing investment guidance and portfolio management services directly to a diverse client base, which includes corporate and public pension plans, endowments, foundations, private individuals, and the company's own Westwood Funds. Additionally, this segment offers specialized investment sub-advisory expertise to external mutual funds, various pooled investment vehicles, and its internal Trust segment. The Trust segment is responsible for delivering comprehensive trust and custodial services. It also manages and participates in common trust funds that it sponsors, primarily catering to institutional clients and affluent individuals.
WHG (Westwood Holdings Group, Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Financial - Capital Markets, with a market capitalization of approximately $188.9M, a trailing P/E of 22.99, a beta of 0.61 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 14.7-20.34, average daily share volume of 18K, a public-listing history dating back to 2002, approximately 151 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how WHG stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.61 indicates WHG has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. WHG pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on WHG?
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 WHG snapshot
As of June 30, 2026, spot at $18.78, ATM IV 143.80%, IV rank 49.49%, expected move 41.23%. The butterfly on WHG 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 17-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on WHG specifically: WHG IV at 143.80% 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 41.23% (roughly $7.74 on the underlying). The 17-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated WHG expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on WHG should anchor to the underlying notional of $18.78 per share and to the trader's directional view on WHG stock.
WHG butterfly setup
The WHG 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 WHG near $18.78, the first option leg uses a $17.84 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed WHG chain at a 17-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 WHG shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $17.84 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $18.78 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $19.72 | N/A |
WHG 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.
WHG butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on WHG. 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 WHG
Butterflies on WHG are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect WHG 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.
WHG thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for WHG extends from approximately $11.04 on the downside to $26.52 on the upside. A WHG long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if WHG settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current WHG IV rank near 49.49% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on WHG should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Financial Services name, WHG options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to WHG-specific events.
WHG 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. WHG positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move WHG alongside the broader basket even when WHG-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current WHG chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on WHG?
- A butterfly on WHG is the butterfly strategy applied to WHG (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 WHG stock trading near $18.78, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed WHG chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are WHG 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 WHG butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 143.80%), 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 WHG butterfly?
- The breakeven for the WHG 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 WHG market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 41.23%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on WHG?
- Butterflies on WHG are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect WHG 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 WHG implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- WHG ATM IV is at 143.80% with IV rank near 49.49%, 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.