WNC Butterfly Strategy
WNC (Wabash National Corporation), in the Industrials sector, (Agricultural - Machinery industry), listed on NYSE.
Wabash National Corporation designs, manufactures, and distributes engineered solutions for the transportation, logistics, and distribution industries primarily in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Transportation Solutions and Parts & Services. The Transportation Solutions segment provides dry van and platform trailers; refrigerated trailers; converter dollies; van bodies for dry-freight transportation; cutaway van bodies for commercial applications; service bodies; insulated van bodies; stake bodies; refrigerated truck bodies; and used trailers, as well as laminated hardwood oak flooring products. This segment also offers stainless steel and aluminum tank trailers for the dairy, food and beverage, oil, gas, and chemical end markets; dry bulk trailers; and fiberglass reinforced poly tank trailers. The Parts & Services segment provides aftermarket parts and services; aluminum and steel flatbed bodies, shelving for package delivery, partitions, roof racks, hitches, liftgates, and thermal solutions; and door repair and replacement, collision repair, and basic maintenance services. This segment also offers stainless steel storage tanks and silos, mixers, and processors for the dairy, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, chemical, craft brewing, and biotech end markets; and composite products, including truck bodies, overhead doors, and other industrial application products.
WNC (Wabash National Corporation) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Agricultural - Machinery, with a market capitalization of approximately $279.0M, a beta of 1.59 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 6.79-12.94, average daily share volume of 650K, a public-listing history dating back to 1991, approximately 6K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how WNC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.59 indicates WNC has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position. WNC pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on WNC?
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 WNC snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $6.88, ATM IV 81.20%, IV rank 13.91%, expected move 23.28%. The butterfly on WNC 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 WNC specifically: WNC IV at 81.20% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a WNC butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 23.28% (roughly $1.60 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 WNC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on WNC should anchor to the underlying notional of $6.88 per share and to the trader's directional view on WNC stock.
WNC butterfly setup
The WNC 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 WNC near $6.88, the first option leg uses a $6.54 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed WNC 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 WNC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $6.54 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $6.88 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $7.22 | N/A |
WNC 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.
WNC butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on WNC. 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 WNC
Butterflies on WNC are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect WNC 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.
WNC thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for WNC extends from approximately $5.28 on the downside to $8.48 on the upside. A WNC long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if WNC settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current WNC IV rank near 13.91% 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 WNC at 81.20%. As a Industrials name, WNC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to WNC-specific events.
WNC 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. WNC positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move WNC alongside the broader basket even when WNC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current WNC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on WNC?
- A butterfly on WNC is the butterfly strategy applied to WNC (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 WNC stock trading near $6.88, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed WNC chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are WNC 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 WNC butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 81.20%), 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 WNC butterfly?
- The breakeven for the WNC 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 WNC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 23.28%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on WNC?
- Butterflies on WNC are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect WNC 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 WNC implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- WNC ATM IV is at 81.20% with IV rank near 13.91%, 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.