butterfly

In finance, a butterfly (or simply fly) is a limited risk, non-directional options strategy that is designed to have a high probability of earning a limited profit when the future volatility of the underlying asset is expected to be lower (when long the butterfly) or higher (when short the butterfly) than that asset's current implied volatility. Long butterfly A long butterfly position will make profit if the future volatility is lower than the implied volatility. A long butterfly options strategy consists of the following options: Long 1 call with a strike price of (X − a) Short 2 calls with a strike price of X Long 1 call with a strike price of (X + a) where X = the spot price (i.e. current market price of underlying) and a > 0. Using put–call parity a long butterfly can also be created as follows: Long 1 put with a strike price of (X + a) Short 2 puts with a strike price of X Long 1 put with a strike price of (X − a) where X = the spot price and a > 0.