YORW Butterfly Strategy
YORW (The York Water Company), in the Utilities sector, (Regulated Water industry), listed on NASDAQ.
The York Water Company impounds, purifies, and distributes drinking water. It owns and operates three wastewater collection systems; five wastewater collection and treatment systems; and two reservoirs, including Lake Williams and Lake Redman, which hold approximately 2.2 billion gallons of water. The company also operates a 15-mile pipeline from the Susquehanna River to Lake Redman; and owns nine groundwater wells that supply water to customers in the Adams County. It serves customers in the fixtures and furniture, electrical machinery, food products, paper, ordnance units, textile products, air conditioning systems, laundry detergents, barbells, and motorcycle industries in 51 municipalities within three counties in south-central Pennsylvania. The York Water Company was incorporated in 1816 and is based in York, Pennsylvania.
YORW (The York Water Company) trades in the Utilities sector, specifically Regulated Water, with a market capitalization of approximately $479.0M, a trailing P/E of 20.06, a beta of 0.61 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 28.26-34.3, average daily share volume of 166K, a public-listing history dating back to 1999, approximately 127 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how YORW stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.61 indicates YORW has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. YORW pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on YORW?
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 YORW snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $29.13, ATM IV 8.90%, IV rank 0.14%, expected move 2.55%. The butterfly on YORW 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 YORW specifically: YORW IV at 8.90% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a YORW butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 2.55% (roughly $0.74 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 YORW expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on YORW should anchor to the underlying notional of $29.13 per share and to the trader's directional view on YORW stock.
YORW butterfly setup
The YORW 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 YORW near $29.13, the first option leg uses a $27.67 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed YORW 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 YORW shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $27.67 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $29.13 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $30.59 | N/A |
YORW 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.
YORW butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on YORW. 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 YORW
Butterflies on YORW are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect YORW 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.
YORW thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for YORW extends from approximately $28.39 on the downside to $29.87 on the upside. A YORW long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if YORW settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current YORW IV rank near 0.14% 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 YORW at 8.90%. As a Utilities name, YORW options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to YORW-specific events.
YORW 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. YORW positions also carry Utilities sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move YORW alongside the broader basket even when YORW-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current YORW chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on YORW?
- A butterfly on YORW is the butterfly strategy applied to YORW (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 YORW stock trading near $29.13, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed YORW chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are YORW 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 YORW butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 8.90%), 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 YORW butterfly?
- The breakeven for the YORW 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 YORW market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 2.55%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on YORW?
- Butterflies on YORW are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect YORW 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 YORW implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- YORW ATM IV is at 8.90% with IV rank near 0.14%, 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.