Strategy education
Strategy Library
Explore options structures by the job their payoff performs, with profit zones, loss zones, volatility bias, time bias, and defining legs.
A strategy name is useful only when you understand the job of its payoff. This library organizes the available structures by the problem they are designed to solve—not by a claim that one family is always better.
Start with the payoff question
Before opening any row, ask what the trade must accomplish. Does the thesis need direction with limited risk? A profitable corridor? A precise target? Convex exposure to a large move? Income against stock? Protection under an existing position?
The answer narrows the relevant family, but market context still matters. Time to expiration, implied volatility, skew, liquidity, and price structure can make two superficially similar trades behave very differently.
Strategy family
Direction with defined risk
Structures that express a directional view while shaping premium, break-even, and maximum loss.
Bull Put SpreadBullish
Defined-risk bullish put credit vertical that benefits when price stays above the short put.
- Profit zone
- above the short put
- Loss zone
- below the long put
- Volatility
- mostly neutral
- Time
- helpful while profitable
- buy lower-strike put
- sell higher-strike put
Bear Call SpreadBearish
Defined-risk bearish call credit vertical that benefits when price stays below the short call.
- Profit zone
- below the short call
- Loss zone
- above the long call
- Volatility
- mostly neutral
- Time
- helpful while profitable
- sell lower-strike call
- buy higher-strike call
Bull Call SpreadBullish
Defined-risk bullish call debit vertical for a move toward or above the short call.
- Profit zone
- above the short call
- Loss zone
- below the long call
- Volatility
- mostly neutral
- Time
- helpful once profitable
- buy lower-strike call
- sell higher-strike call
Bear Put SpreadBearish
Defined-risk bearish put debit vertical for a move toward or below the short put.
- Profit zone
- below the short put
- Loss zone
- above the long put
- Volatility
- mostly neutral
- Time
- helpful once profitable
- sell lower-strike put
- buy higher-strike put
Bear Call LadderDirectional
Bear call spread with an extra long call; can benefit from bearish stability or a very large upside move.
- Profit zone
- below the short call or far above
- Loss zone
- moderate upside move
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful in the valley
- sell lower call
- buy middle call
- buy higher call
Bull Put LadderDirectional
Bull put spread with an extra long put; can benefit from bullish stability or a very large downside move.
- Profit zone
- far below or above the short put
- Loss zone
- moderate downside move
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful in the valley
- buy lower put
- buy middle put
- sell higher put
Strategy family
Range, target, and time decay
Structures built around a corridor, a target price, or the passage of time inside defined payoff zones.
Iron ButterflyNeutral
Defined-risk credit structure with maximum profit near one central strike and losses outside its wings.
- Profit zone
- near the central strike
- Loss zone
- outside both wings
- Volatility
- short volatility
- Time
- helpful near the center
- buy lower put
- sell central put
- sell central call
- buy upper call
Iron CondorNeutral
Defined-risk credit range strategy with a profitable corridor between two short strikes.
- Profit zone
- between the short strikes
- Loss zone
- outside the protective wings
- Volatility
- short volatility
- Time
- helpful inside the corridor
- buy lower put
- sell higher put
- sell lower call
- buy higher call
Long Put ButterflyNeutral
Low-cost put butterfly that targets price finishing near its middle strike.
- Profit zone
- near the middle strike
- Loss zone
- outside the outer strikes
- Volatility
- short volatility near target
- Time
- helpful near target
- buy lower-strike put
- sell two middle-strike puts
- buy higher-strike put
Long Call ButterflyNeutral
Low-cost call butterfly that targets price finishing near its middle strike.
- Profit zone
- near the middle strike
- Loss zone
- outside the outer strikes
- Volatility
- short volatility near target
- Time
- helpful near target
- buy lower-strike call
- sell two middle-strike calls
- buy higher-strike call
Long Call CondorNeutral
Four-call debit range structure with a wider target zone than a call butterfly.
- Profit zone
- between the middle strikes
- Loss zone
- outside the outer strikes
- Volatility
- short volatility near target
- Time
- helpful near target
- buy call A
- sell call B
- sell call C
- buy call D
Long Put CondorNeutral
Four-put debit range structure with a wider target zone than a put butterfly.
- Profit zone
- between the middle strikes
- Loss zone
- outside the outer strikes
- Volatility
- short volatility near target
- Time
- helpful near target
- buy put A
- sell put B
- sell put C
- buy put D
Put Broken WingBullish
Asymmetric put butterfly with a mild bullish bias and one reduced-risk tail.
- Profit zone
- near the middle strike
- Loss zone
- mainly on one tail
- Volatility
- mixed
- Time
- helpful near target
- buy put A
- sell two puts B
- buy put C with unequal wings
Call Broken WingBearish
Asymmetric call butterfly with a mild bearish bias and one reduced-risk tail.
- Profit zone
- near the middle strike
- Loss zone
- mainly on one tail
- Volatility
- mixed
- Time
- helpful near target
- buy call A
- sell two calls B
- buy call C with unequal wings
Short Put ButterflyDirectional
Put-only reverse butterfly that benefits from a sufficiently large move away from the middle strike.
- Profit zone
- outside the outer strikes
- Loss zone
- near the middle strike
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful near the middle
- sell lower-strike put
- buy two middle-strike puts
- sell higher-strike put
Short Call ButterflyDirectional
Call-only reverse butterfly that benefits from a sufficiently large move away from the middle strike.
- Profit zone
- outside the outer strikes
- Loss zone
- near the middle strike
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful near the middle
- sell lower-strike call
- buy two middle-strike calls
- sell higher-strike call
Short Call CondorDirectional
Four-call reverse condor that loses in a middle corridor and benefits from a move outside it.
- Profit zone
- outside the middle corridor
- Loss zone
- between the middle strikes
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful inside corridor
- sell call A
- buy call B
- buy call C
- sell call D
Short Put CondorDirectional
Four-put reverse condor that loses in a middle corridor and benefits from a move outside it.
- Profit zone
- outside the middle corridor
- Loss zone
- between the middle strikes
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful inside corridor
- sell put A
- buy put B
- buy put C
- sell put D
Jade LizardNeutral To Bullish
Combines a short put with a bear call spread, collecting premium with no upside loss when total credit covers the call width.
- Profit zone
- between the short put and upper call wing
- Loss zone
- large downside move
- Volatility
- short volatility
- Time
- helpful
- sell lower-strike put
- sell lower-strike call
- buy higher-strike call
Strategy family
Movement and volatility
Structures that need a meaningful move, asymmetric acceleration, or a change in volatility rather than a narrow finish.
Inverse Iron ButterflyDirectional
Defined-risk debit structure that loses near one central strike and benefits from a move either way.
- Profit zone
- outside the central area
- Loss zone
- near the central strike
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful near the center
- sell lower put
- buy central put
- buy central call
- sell upper call
Inverse Iron CondorDirectional
Defined-risk debit structure with a central loss corridor and capped gains after a large move.
- Profit zone
- outside the inner strikes
- Loss zone
- between the inner strikes
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful inside the corridor
- sell lower put
- buy higher put
- buy lower call
- sell higher call
Long StraddleDirectional
Long call and put at one strike; needs a large move or volatility expansion to overcome premium decay.
- Profit zone
- far from the common strike
- Loss zone
- near the common strike
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful
- buy put at one strike
- buy call at the same strike
Long StrangleDirectional
Long out-of-the-money put and call; cheaper than a straddle but requires a larger move.
- Profit zone
- outside both breakeven regions
- Loss zone
- between the strikes
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful
- buy lower-strike put
- buy higher-strike call
Call Ratio BackspreadBullish
Sells one lower call and buys more higher calls, creating convex exposure to a large upside move.
- Profit zone
- large upside move
- Loss zone
- moderate upside move
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- generally harmful
- sell lower-strike call
- buy two higher-strike calls
Put Ratio BackspreadBearish
Sells one higher put and buys more lower puts, creating convex exposure to a large downside move.
- Profit zone
- large downside move
- Loss zone
- moderate downside move
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- generally harmful
- buy two lower-strike puts
- sell higher-strike put
Inverse Call Broken WingBullish
Asymmetric reverse call butterfly with bullish bias and a central loss region.
- Profit zone
- outside the middle with bullish bias
- Loss zone
- near the middle strike
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful near center
- sell call A
- buy two calls B
- sell call C with unequal wings
Inverse Put Broken WingBearish
Asymmetric reverse put butterfly with bearish bias and a central loss region.
- Profit zone
- outside the middle with bearish bias
- Loss zone
- near the middle strike
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful near center
- sell put A
- buy two puts B
- sell put C with unequal wings
StripBearish Directional
Long straddle with twice as many puts, requiring a large move and giving greater payoff to a decline.
- Profit zone
- far from the common strike, especially below
- Loss zone
- near the common strike
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful
- buy two puts at one strike
- buy call at the same strike
StrapBullish Directional
Long straddle with twice as many calls, requiring a large move and giving greater payoff to a rise.
- Profit zone
- far from the common strike, especially above
- Loss zone
- near the common strike
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful
- buy put at one strike
- buy two calls at the same strike
GutsDirectional
Buys an in-the-money call and an in-the-money put; its terminal payoff resembles a strangle but usually costs more.
- Profit zone
- outside both breakeven regions
- Loss zone
- between the strikes
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful
- buy lower-strike call
- buy higher-strike put
Strategy family
Stock-linked, synthetic, and protection
Structures that combine options with stock exposure, replace stock-like exposure, or reshape an existing holding.
Covered Short StraddleBullish Income
Owns shares and sells an at-the-money call plus an uncovered put for high income and amplified downside exposure.
- Profit zone
- near or moderately above the strike
- Loss zone
- large downside move
- Volatility
- short volatility
- Time
- helpful
- own 100 shares
- sell call at strike A
- sell put at strike A
Covered Short StrangleBullish Income
Owns shares and sells a lower put plus a higher covered call, creating a wider income range with downside assignment risk.
- Profit zone
- between the short strikes
- Loss zone
- large downside move
- Volatility
- short volatility
- Time
- helpful
- own 100 shares
- sell lower-strike put
- sell higher-strike call
Long Synthetic FutureBullish
Long call and short put at one strike, reproducing a leveraged long-stock payoff.
- Profit zone
- price above the effective entry
- Loss zone
- price below the effective entry
- Volatility
- mostly offset
- Time
- mostly offset
- sell put at strike A
- buy call at strike A
Synthetic PutBearish
Short underlying plus a long call, reproducing the payoff of a long put with capped upside loss.
- Profit zone
- large downside move
- Loss zone
- price above the call strike
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful
- short 100 shares
- buy call
Covered CallNeutral To Bullish Income
Owns shares and sells a call, collecting premium while capping gains above the call strike.
- Profit zone
- between stock entry and the call strike
- Loss zone
- large decline in the shares
- Volatility
- short volatility
- Time
- helpful
- own 100 shares
- sell call
Protective PutBullish Protected
Owns shares and buys a put, preserving upside participation while placing a floor under the position.
- Profit zone
- above the stock entry plus premium
- Loss zone
- between stock entry and the put floor
- Volatility
- long volatility
- Time
- harmful
- own 100 shares
- buy put
CollarBullish Protected
Owns shares, buys a lower put and sells a higher call, defining both the downside floor and upside cap.
- Profit zone
- from effective entry toward the short call
- Loss zone
- from effective entry toward the long put
- Volatility
- mostly offset
- Time
- mostly offset
- own 100 shares
- buy lower-strike put
- sell higher-strike call
Long ComboBullish
Sells a lower put and buys a higher call; outside the gap it behaves like a long synthetic future.
- Profit zone
- above the call strike
- Loss zone
- below the put strike
- Volatility
- mostly offset
- Time
- mostly offset
- sell lower-strike put
- buy higher-strike call
How the library is used in an analysis
The product does not ask the user to pick one of these rows before seeing the market. It compares the complete curated library for the selected underlying and exact expiration, then returns five structures whose payoff characteristics best fit the prepared evidence.
The categories above are educational navigation, not ranking buckets. A structure can combine direction, volatility, time, and protection in the same payoff. Open a row to review its profit zone, loss zone, volatility bias, time bias, and defining legs before modeling exact contracts elsewhere.
The current workflow uses one expiration. Calendar and diagonal structures require multiple expirations, so they are outside this library rather than being presented as candidates the product cannot evaluate consistently.