Every spread you run, read as one position instead of a pile of legs. You get the payoff, both breakevens and the numbers that actually decide the trade, so you can hold it for the full profit or close it before it turns.
Any combination of calls and puts your broker fills as one order, at any number of legs.
The same four whether the position has two legs or six, and all four are settled the moment it fills. Read together they answer the only questions that matter before you put money on the table: what it can cost, what it can make, and where the line between the two sits.
The most the position can lose at expiration, worked out from the strikes and the cash that changed hands. It decides whether you can carry the trade at all, and it is the figure your capital at risk is charged on.
The ceiling. Selling premium caps the good outcome as firmly as it caps the bad one, and seeing both at once is what tells you whether the trade pays enough for the risk you are taking.
Every price where the position crosses from loss into profit. Spreads often have two, one either side, and the gap between them is the room you have to be wrong.
The cash that moved when the position filled. A credit is money in your account that you keep if the trade works. A debit is money spent that has to be earned back before anything else counts.
Six real positions on AAPL at $213.40, all opened the same day with 45 days to run and 21 left today, 2 contracts a leg. Every figure below is the product's own, so these are what the trades genuinely do rather than an illustration of them.
Pays if the stock goes nowhere. Both sides capped.
| AAPL | Today | Day 5 | Day 11 | Day 16 | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $233.18 | −$347 | −$376 | −$430 | −$513 | −$658 |
| $226.58 | −$107 | −$101 | −$94 | −$79 | +$25 |
| $219.99 | +$102 | +$141 | +$202 | +$276 | +$342 |
| $213.40 | +$170 | +$214 | +$277 | +$328 | +$342 |
| $206.81 | +$57 | +$77 | +$112 | +$169 | +$342 |
| $200.22 | −$186 | −$207 | −$246 | −$309 | −$615 |
| $193.62 | −$434 | −$477 | −$544 | −$617 | −$658 |
Paid up front to be right that it will not fall far.
| AAPL | Today | Day 5 | Day 11 | Day 16 | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $233.85 | +$175 | +$176 | +$176 | +$176 | +$176 |
| $227.04 | +$171 | +$174 | +$176 | +$176 | +$176 |
| $220.22 | +$149 | +$161 | +$172 | +$176 | +$176 |
| $213.40 | +$74 | +$95 | +$130 | +$164 | +$176 |
| $206.58 | −$102 | −$91 | −$63 | −$8 | +$176 |
| $199.76 | −$369 | −$393 | −$438 | −$508 | −$824 |
| $192.95 | −$621 | −$663 | −$729 | −$794 | −$824 |
Paid up front to be right that it will not rise.
| AAPL | Today | Day 5 | Day 11 | Day 16 | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $231.80 | −$564 | −$598 | −$654 | −$715 | −$748 |
| $225.66 | −$362 | −$381 | −$419 | −$483 | −$748 |
| $219.53 | −$114 | −$100 | −$70 | −$15 | +$252 |
| $213.40 | +$92 | +$122 | +$171 | +$225 | +$252 |
| $207.27 | +$204 | +$223 | +$243 | +$251 | +$252 |
| $201.14 | +$243 | +$248 | +$252 | +$252 | +$252 |
| $195.00 | +$251 | +$252 | +$252 | +$252 | +$252 |
Pays for a rise, with the cost of being wrong fixed.
| AAPL | Today | Day 5 | Day 11 | Day 16 | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $231.47 | +$1,115 | +$1,175 | +$1,262 | +$1,343 | +$1,384 |
| $225.45 | +$782 | +$834 | +$926 | +$1,055 | +$1,384 |
| $219.42 | +$316 | +$314 | +$310 | +$298 | +$269 |
| $213.40 | −$142 | −$192 | −$282 | −$406 | −$616 |
| $207.38 | −$445 | −$493 | −$556 | −$604 | −$616 |
| $201.35 | −$576 | −$595 | −$612 | −$616 | −$616 |
| $195.33 | −$610 | −$614 | −$616 | −$616 | −$616 |
Pays for a big move, either direction. Needs one.
| AAPL | Today | Day 5 | Day 11 | Day 16 | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $230.71 | +$1,053 | +$1,002 | +$954 | +$926 | +$902 |
| $224.94 | +$59 | −$42 | −$154 | −$222 | −$252 |
| $219.17 | −$644 | −$806 | −$1,026 | −$1,239 | −$1,406 |
| $213.40 | −$844 | −$1,015 | −$1,259 | −$1,523 | −$1,920 |
| $207.63 | −$456 | −$560 | −$682 | −$761 | −$766 |
| $201.86 | +$389 | +$363 | +$352 | +$365 | +$388 |
| $196.09 | +$1,459 | +$1,472 | +$1,496 | +$1,519 | +$1,542 |
Behaves like owning the shares, for a fraction of the cash.
| AAPL | Today | Day 5 | Day 11 | Day 16 | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $230.71 | +$3,339 | +$3,315 | +$3,286 | +$3,262 | +$3,238 |
| $224.94 | +$2,188 | +$2,163 | +$2,133 | +$2,108 | +$2,084 |
| $219.17 | +$1,037 | +$1,012 | +$982 | +$956 | +$930 |
| $213.40 | −$116 | −$141 | −$171 | −$196 | −$224 |
| $207.63 | −$1,273 | −$1,298 | −$1,328 | −$1,354 | −$1,378 |
| $201.86 | −$2,430 | −$2,455 | −$2,485 | −$2,509 | −$2,532 |
| $196.09 | −$3,587 | −$3,611 | −$3,639 | −$3,663 | −$3,686 |
Spreads do not pay out evenly. A sold position earns fastest early and then crawls, so the last slice of profit costs weeks of risk to collect. A bought one loses value every day it waits. The curve for your own position says which of those you are in, and when holding on stops being worth it.
By day 12 the position is up $288, which is 84% of everything it can ever make. Staying in for the last $54 means carrying the full $658 at risk for another 9 days. That trade-off is what the flattening curve is showing you, and it is why closing early is so often the better business.
By day 15 the position is up $158, which is 90% of everything it can ever make. Staying in for the last $18 means carrying the full $824 at risk for another 6 days. That trade-off is what the flattening curve is showing you, and it is why closing early is so often the better business.
By day 15 the position is up $213, which is 85% of everything it can ever make. Staying in for the last $39 means carrying the full $748 at risk for another 6 days. That trade-off is what the flattening curve is showing you, and it is why closing early is so often the better business.
Time runs against this one. Standing still costs about $23 a day, $474 between now and expiration. It needs AAPL to move, and to move soon, so the question is not when to take profit but how long you are willing to keep paying for the chance.
Time runs against this one. Standing still costs about $51 a day, $1,076 between now and expiration. It needs AAPL to move, and to move soon, so the question is not when to take profit but how long you are willing to keep paying for the chance.
Time runs against this one. Standing still costs about $5 a day, $108 between now and expiration. It needs AAPL to move, and to move soon, so the question is not when to take profit but how long you are willing to keep paying for the chance.
Four readings taken across every leg at once, with the short legs subtracting. Between them they tell you what happens next without you having to guess: which way the position leans, whether time is paying you or charging you, and what a jumpy market would do to it.
Which way it leans. It currently behaves like holding 4 AAPL shares, so a $1 move up is worth roughly $4 to you.
Time is paying you. Each day that passes with AAPL sitting still adds about $8 to the position. Doing nothing is the strategy.
How fast that lean changes. Negative, so the delta above will not hold if it runs. A calm position can turn quickly once the price reaches a strike.
It gains if the market calms down. One point of implied volatility is worth about $20 with the price unchanged. This is the risk that catches people out.
Which way it leans. It currently behaves like holding 18 AAPL shares, so a $1 move up is worth roughly $18 to you.
Time is paying you. Each day that passes with AAPL sitting still adds about $4 to the position. Doing nothing is the strategy.
How fast that lean changes. Negative, so the delta above will not hold if it runs. A calm position can turn quickly once the price reaches a strike.
It gains if the market calms down. One point of implied volatility is worth about $10 with the price unchanged. This is the risk that catches people out.
Which way it leans. It currently behaves like holding 26 AAPL shares short, so a $1 move down is worth roughly $26 to you.
Time is paying you. Each day that passes with AAPL sitting still adds about $5 to the position. Doing nothing is the strategy.
How fast that lean changes. Negative, so the delta above will not hold if it runs. A calm position can turn quickly once the price reaches a strike.
It gains if the market calms down. One point of implied volatility is worth about $12 with the price unchanged. This is the risk that catches people out.
Which way it leans. It currently behaves like holding 66 AAPL shares, so a $1 move up is worth roughly $66 to you.
Time is charging you. Each day takes about $9 out of it whether anything happens or not, so this position needs a move to justify itself.
How fast that lean changes. Positive, so the position gets more right the further it runs your way. A move helps you twice over.
It gains if the market gets jumpier. One point of implied volatility is worth about $19 with the price unchanged. This is the risk that catches people out.
Which way it leans. It currently behaves like holding 17 AAPL shares short, so a $1 move down is worth roughly $17 to you.
Time is charging you. Each day takes about $32 out of it whether anything happens or not, so this position needs a move to justify itself.
How fast that lean changes. Positive, so the position gets more right the further it runs your way. A move helps you twice over.
It gains if the market gets jumpier. One point of implied volatility is worth about $81 with the price unchanged. This is the risk that catches people out.
Which way it leans. It currently behaves like holding 200 AAPL shares, so a $1 move up is worth roughly $200 to you.
Time is charging you. Each day takes about $5 out of it whether anything happens or not, so this position needs a move to justify itself.
The lean barely changes at all. Close enough to flat that the delta above holds as the price moves, which is exactly what makes this a stand-in for the shares.
Volatility barely touches it. The bought and sold legs cancel each other out, so a shift in volatility is close to a non-event here.
Legs are grouped because your broker filled them on a single order, never because they happened to land on the same day. Two orders on one ticker in an afternoon stay two positions, which is what keeps a covered call from being quietly pulled apart and changing results you had already booked.
Schwab, Interactive Brokers, and Robinhood, Fidelity and tastytrade through our broker connection all supply it. Most plain CSV files do not.
When the legs expire on different dates each one is priced against its own remaining time, but the projections stop at the nearest expiration. Past that date it is a different position: once the near leg goes, what is left is a naked long. There is no single expiration payoff to draw, so we do not draw one.
The pricing is written up in full in the methodology.
Spreads are kept apart from your wheel results, so a hedge never quietly flatters the premium income you are tracking. The capital they tie up still counts toward what you have at risk, and single bought contracts keep their own valuation page. Want to sketch a position before you place it? The free payoff calculator needs no account at all.
The walkthrough opens on a SPY iron condor, with max loss, max gain and every breakeven worked out from the moment the order filled.
3:54 / 5:18 Spreads and condors as one position
Connect a broker and your multi-leg orders arrive grouped, with the max loss, the max gain and both breakevens settled from the moment they fill.