WSC Butterfly Strategy
WSC (WillScot Holdings Corporation), in the Industrials sector, (Rental & Leasing Services industry), listed on NASDAQ.
WillScot Holdings Corporation (WSC) is a leading provider of adaptable workspace and mobile storage solutions throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The company's operations are divided into two core divisions: Modular Solutions and Storage Solutions. The Modular Solutions segment offers a diverse range of temporary structures, including pre-fabricated and stackable office units, single-wide and sectional modular spaces (such as redi-plex), educational facilities like classrooms, ground-level offices, specialized blast-resistant modules, and expansive clearspan structures. Complementing this, their Storage Solutions segment supplies various portable containers, including refrigerated units, alongside different types of trailers. WillScot leases these flexible modular spaces and portable storage units to a broad spectrum of clients across industries such as construction, commercial and industrial enterprises, retail and wholesale trade, energy and natural resources, education, governmental and institutional bodies, and healthcare. The company primarily markets its offerings under the well-known WillScot and Mobile Mini brand names.
WSC (WillScot Holdings Corporation) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Rental & Leasing Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $3.99B, a beta of 1.33 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 14.91-29.77, average daily share volume of 2.4M, a public-listing history dating back to 2015, approximately 5K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how WSC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.33 indicates WSC has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position. WSC pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on WSC?
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.
WSC snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $24.02, ATM IV 46.00%, IV rank 3.15%, expected move 13.19%. The butterfly on WSC 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 126-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on WSC specifically: WSC IV at 46.00% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a WSC butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 13.19% (roughly $3.17 on the underlying). The 126-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated WSC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on WSC should anchor to the underlying notional of $24.02 per share and to the trader's directional view on WSC stock.
WSC butterfly setup
The WSC 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 WSC at $24.02 on that close, the first option leg uses a $22.50 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed WSC chain at a 126-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 WSC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $22.50 | $3.85 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $25.00 | $2.58 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $25.00 | $2.58 |
WSC butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$127.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $122.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$127.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $23.78
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.961
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.
WSC butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on WSC. 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% | -$127.50 |
| $5.32 | -77.9% | -$127.50 |
| $10.63 | -55.7% | -$127.50 |
| $15.94 | -33.6% | -$127.50 |
| $21.25 | -11.5% | -$127.50 |
| $26.56 | +10.6% | +$122.50 |
| $31.87 | +32.7% | +$122.50 |
| $37.18 | +54.8% | +$122.50 |
| $42.49 | +76.9% | +$122.50 |
| $47.80 | +99.0% | +$122.50 |
When traders use butterfly on WSC
Butterflies on WSC are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect WSC 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.
WSC thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for WSC extends from approximately $20.85 on the downside to $27.19 on the upside. A WSC long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if WSC settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current WSC IV rank near 3.15% 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 WSC at 46.00%. As a Industrials name, WSC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to WSC-specific events.
WSC 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. WSC positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move WSC alongside the broader basket even when WSC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current WSC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on WSC?
- A butterfly on WSC is the butterfly strategy applied to WSC (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 WSC stock at $24.02 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed WSC chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are WSC 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 WSC butterfly priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 46.00%), the computed maximum profit is $122.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$127.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a WSC butterfly?
- The breakeven for the WSC butterfly priced on this page is roughly $23.78 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 WSC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 13.19%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on WSC?
- Butterflies on WSC are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect WSC 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 WSC implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- WSC ATM IV is at 46.00% with IV rank near 3.15%, 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.