In two recent articles, I detailed the short butterfly positions I took in GMCR and NFLX, AMZN and BIDU. And for good reason — this strategy has been generating near-20% returns on every trade.

The short butterfly is an options trading strategy where you buy two at-the-money options (i.e., the body) and sell one in-the-money option and one out-of-the-money option. The trade is done for a net credit that you receive when you initiate the trade.

Right now I am looking at another short butterfly trade, this time on Panera Bread (NASDAQ:PNRA). Here’s the setup.

Trade #1: Panera Short Butterfly

• Sell 10 $150 calls for Feb. 17 expiration
• Buy 20 $155 calls for Feb. 17 expiration
• Sell 10 $160 calls for Feb. 17 expiration

The credit on this trade was 65 cents as of the market close on Feb. 6. I am simply looking for a move of $4.35+ over earnings.

Short butterflies can be a great way to trade, but the other side of the same trade — the long butterfly — can also be a big money-maker in a different time frame. The trade setup is similar to the short butterfly, but this time you’ll be selling two at-the-money strikes, and then buying an in-the-money and an out-of-the-money strike. Once again, all “legs” of the butterfly will have the same expiration date.

Another key difference is that you will be paying a net debit to enter this trade. The long butterfly strategy benefits from time decay and lack of movement in the stock. Most investors make the mistake of trying to carry these into expiration and hope to get the max profit. This is a mistake because the butterfly position is most sensitive to movement when it is near expiration. In other words, you can lose a lot of money on the trade if the stock makes a small move at the wrong time. The key is to get into the trade with enough time left before expiration in order to be less sensitive to a move in the stock.

Right now, I am doing two long butterfly trades — in Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and IBM (NYSE:IBM).

Trade # 2: Caterpillar Long Butterfly

• Buy 10 $105 calls for Feb. 17 expiration
• Sell 20 $115 calls for Feb. 17 expiration
• Buy 10 $120 calls for Feb. 17 expiration

Caterpillar is currently trading around $114. I will close the trade on Monday or Tuesday, Feb. 13 or 14. Or, if the stock makes a big move to the far strikes of the butterfly (i.e., toward the $105 or $120 strikes), I will close it down.

Trade # 3: IBM Long Butterfly

• Buy 10 $180 calls Feb 17th expiration
• Sell 20 $190 calls Feb 17th expiration
• Buy 10 $200 calls Feb 17th expiration

IBM is currently trading around $193. I will also close this trade on Feb. 13 or 14. Or, again, if the stock makes a big move to the far strikes ($180 or $200), I will close it down. The objective is to avoid the time frame when the position is very sensitive to a move in the stock.

To learn more about Karson Keith’s weekly options strategies, click here.