Bull Call Spread

You buy a call option, but at the same time, you sell a higher strike call. The premium received reduces the overall trade cost while lowering your expiration breakeven price. And since the stock doesn’t have to move as much to profit, the bull call also carries a higher probability of profit versus a straight call purchase. Additionally, since we’re both buying and selling calls your delta, theta, and vega risk are all reduced.

The effect of time decay on this strategy varies with the underlying stock’s price level in relation to the strike prices of the long and short options. If the stock price is midway between the strike prices, the effect can be minimal. If the stock price is closer to the lower strike price of the long call, losses generally increase at a faster rate as time passes. Alternatively, if the underlying stock price is closer to the higher strike price of the written call, profits generally increase at a faster rate as time passes. The stock price can be at or below the lower strike price, above the lower strike price but not above the higher strike price or above the higher strike price.

The Filter view shows you the data contained in the field you’ve added to the screener. Here are a bunch of graphs that will help you identify the best possible strikes based on time to expiry. Profit from a gain in the underlying stock’s price without the up-front capital outlay and downside risk of outright stock ownership. These are things to consider when choosing between calls and call spreads.

Understanding A Bull Call Spread

It is unlikely to find options on a security with very wide strike prices. This gap is essential, though, to turn the profit mentioned in the above example. If the difference in the two strike prices were $0, no profit would be made, and the investor would actually lose money through transaction what is a bull call spread fees. Therefore, a security is only ripe for this type of scenario if buy and sell options are being offered at variable prices. Bull call spreads are complicated; to understand the process, consider an example. A trader holds a single security with a current price of $5 a share.

As long as the stock stays above the lower strike price, the spread will retain some value. Close the trade before the options expire to retain that value for your account. If both options have value, investors will generally close out a spread in the marketplace as the options expire.

Options can be used to make trades based on market direction, to bet … This method is simple but can be highly effective, especially when profit potential on the spreads is at least four times the risk. Because options have an expiration date, they will lose value with the passage of time all other inputs remaining constant. In other words, you not only have to be right about market direction, but you also have to be right about the timing.

If the stock price is at or above the higher strike at expiration, in theory, the investor would exercise the long call component and presumably would be assigned on the short call. As a result, the stock is bought at the lower price and simultaneously sold at the higher price. The maximum profit then is the difference between the two strike prices, less the initial outlay paid to establish the spread.

In order to create a bull call spread, you use two call options; the first with a lower strike price . Here’s a handy tip; you’ll want to pick an asset you think will go up in value over the next few days, weeks or months. Traders will employ this strategy most often during times of high volatility. Bull call spreads benefit from two factors; a rising stock price and time decay of the short option. This is reached when the stock trades under the lower strike price at expiration. A simple bullish strategy for beginners that can yield big rewards.

This means the strategy is usually in tune with the overall market environment. Similar to the bull call spread strategy, this one is also best left to be used only by professionals and seasoned veterans. Before using the strategy, you should get reliable confirmations that the market really is going bullish. Depending on the type of options, the strategy has two variations. The strategy that uses put options is known as a bull put spread, while the one that uses call options is known as a bull call spread.

Dividend Capture Using Covered Calls

Be warned, however, that using the long call to cover the short call assignment will require establishing a short stock position for one business day, due to the delay in assignment notification. A short leg is any contract in an options spread in which an individual holds a short position. forex trading If you’re in need of a brokerage account for options trading, check out tastyworks, our preferred broker. In other words, we need the stock to rally by more than 6% in about five weeks in order to make a profit. Our total risk on the trade is the net debit that we paid, or $3.20 ($320).

Since the call contract with the higher strike price will be worth less than the call contract with the lower strike price, the net result of this transaction will be a net debit. The maximum risk is equal to the cost of the spread including commissions. A loss of this amount is realized if the How to Start Investing in Stocks position is held to expiration and both calls expire worthless. Both calls will expire worthless if the stock price at expiration is below the strike price of the long call . A bull call spread consists of one long call with a lower strike price and one short call with a higher strike price.

The probability of being assigned on short calls is higher when the short call has little extrinsic value. Alternatively,short call assignments are common before a stock’s ex-dividend date, primarily when the dividend is greater than the short call’s extrinsic value. A bull call spreadis an options strategy that consists of buying a call option while also selling a call option at a higher strike price. We define a function that calculates the payoff from buying a call option.

Bull Call Spread Options Strategy

The strategy involves taking two positions of buying a Call Option and selling of a Call Option. In order to breakeven on this trade, the stock must close upon expiration at a price equal to the lower strike plus the net debit of the trade. The lower strike call must be in the money upon expiration in order for the lower strike call to have any value, but you would need to recoup the upfront cost in order to breakeven. The lower strike call’s value would be equal to the net debit, while the higher strike call expires worthless. This strategy breaks even at expiration if the stock price is above the lower strike by the amount of the initial outlay .

• It is interesting to compare this strategy to the bull put spread.
• Successful trading is 10% strategy selection and 90% trade management.
• By the time he was 21 years old, he was already teaching others how to trade.
• If only the Call Option was purchased, the premium paid would have been Rs 170.
• Similar to the bull call spread strategy, this one is also best left to be used only by professionals and seasoned veterans.

One example of an option spread is referred to as the bull call spread. It involves simultaneously buying and selling different call options. Selling an out-of-the-money call option limits the amount you can gain if prices increase, but the premium you receive from the option sale reduces the net cost of the option you purchased. It might be used when the marketer is bullish on a market up to a point (i.e., the marketer believes the market has limited upside potential).

Bull Call Spread

The best thing about the strategy is that it won’t let your position enter a freefall. It is limited to the difference between the premium you pay and the premium you receive in the case of bull call spreads. In the case of the bull put spread, it’s the difference between the strike prices minus the net credit. Ordinarily, producers do not like to write options because of the limited gains and unlimited risk.

Bull Call Spread Trade Examples

After we initiate the trade, the market can move in any direction and expiry at any level. Therefore let us take up a few scenarios to get a sense of what would happen to the bull call spread for different levels of expiry. Generally speaking in a bull call spread there is always a ‘net debit’, hence the bull call spread is also called referred to as a ‘debit bull spread’. The bull put spread is explained as selling ITM put and buying OTM put, while in the example both puts are ITM.

Hence there is a trading range of $20 in which the stock should trade in the next month. Bull call spreads, on the other hand, have the risk of time decay. In other words, a decrease in the price of the option as its expiration date approaches. Due to its complexity, the bull spread option strategy is intended only for veterans or professionals.

If the futures price were at $12.50 (or $9.50), you would actually have a slightly smaller profit than the $1.07 (-$1.43) shown in Table 3 and Figure 1. How much it would differ would depend on the difference in the time value of the two options when you got out of the trade, which will be a function of the perceived risk in the market. In this type of spread, the user of a commodity would buy a call option at a particular strike price and sell a call option at a higher strike.

Select the two call options from the stock’s options chain screen on your online brokerage account. Enter the number of contracts of each leg to trade and the net price you want to pay. For example, the lower strike call is priced at $2 and the $5 higher strike call is quoted at $0.30. The cost is 100 times the price times the number of contracts in each leg. If your spread is for five contracts of each leg, the cost would be $850 plus commissions. The bull call spread can be considered a doubly hedged strategy.

To determine maximum profit potential, simply take the difference between strike prices and subtract the premium paid for the spread, also factoring any any commissions or fees. They are a bullish options trading strategy that involves buying a call then selling another call out of the money with the same expiration date. This combination process lowers the break even price on the trade. The max profit of a bull call spread is calculated by taking the difference between the two strike prices minus the premium paid. This is reached when the strike trades over the above strike price at expiration.

A call is an options contract that gives the owner the right to purchase the underlying asset at the specified strike price at any point up until expiration. A put is an options contract that gives the owner the right to sell the underlying asset at the specified strike price at any point up until expiration. Here’s the basic setup of a bull call spread, along with how to calculate the position’s maximum gain, maximum loss, and breakeven point.

Author: Lorie Konish