SPYEQUITY
—NO QUOTE
Equities
Futures
% r
% q

Call Butterfly Calculator

How this strategy works →
AssistantPRO
Type a trade in plain English. A fine-tuned model returns the symbol, structure, expiry and size — never a strike or a price.
RECORDED EXAMPLE1/3
“bull call spread on NVDA, 30 days, 2 contracts”
NVDAEQUITYBull Call Spread30d2×
Not a live answer. Captured from api.optionsandfuturescalculator.com on 2026-08-11 and replayed here — the assistant did not run just now. Type your own above and press Parse for a real one.
Trained on ES and NQ futures only — commodity roots are refused, not guessed.A bare futures directive (“Long NQ, 45 days”) often returns no parameters.Exercise style and averaging come from a keyword scan of your words.
Strategy47
Single-leg calls and puts are free
Spreads, straddles, condors, butterflies and futures spreads need Pro. 7 days free, then $9.99/month or $99/year.
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Ticket
Averaging
Debit · 1 × 100—
Position · 0 legs
No legsSelect strikes from the option chain to build a position.
Exercise & Averaging
Exercise
Dividend yield is not modelled on this tree (drift is r − σ²/2). The strategy panel prices with a dividend yield; this panel does not.
Averaging
No resultPick a strike with a live quote to price the tree.
Saved
Nothing saved yetBuild a position, name it, and it will be here next time.
Probability Distribution
No distribution yetThe curve needs a live spot, an implied volatility off the option chain, and a real expiry. Add priced legs to draw it.
P&L matrixprice × date
price–
No grid yetAdd priced legs to compute P&L across price and date.
P&L surfaceprice × date × profit
Surface offTurn on 3D to see the position as a height field.
Option Chain
Outcome
No resultRun a calculation to see outcome, probability and Greeks.

Buy one call below, sell two at a middle strike, buy one above, all equally spaced. The debit is small and the payoff peaks at that middle strike, which is where the appeal lies: a butterfly commonly risks one to make four or five. It states a precise view about where something finishes and is cheap enough to be wrong with it repeatedly. What makes it hard is execution rather than theory — three strikes and four contracts mean four bid/ask spreads, and on a small debit those spreads are a large share of the trade. Price it here and compare the maximum profit against the spread you would really pay.

The full Call Butterfly guide, worked example and FAQs →

Three strikes and four contracts on one ticket — two short calls at the middle strike against one long call on each side. Equal spacing between the strikes is what keeps the payoff symmetric; an uneven spread is a different, skewed structure even though it still has three legs. Because the debit is small relative to the width, the round-trip bid/ask on four contracts is a proportionally large cost — check the combined order's mid-price against the four individual mids before assuming the displayed debit is what will actually fill.

Sizing and account notes

The debit paid is the entire risk, so sizing is simple — the harder part is execution, since three strikes and four contracts routinely cost more in combined bid/ask than the theoretical debit implies on a screen showing mid-prices. Many traders wait for the debit to reach a specific level relative to the width, commonly under a fifth of it, before entering, since the position does very little until the final two weeks regardless of when it was opened. Because two contracts are sold at the same strike, some brokers report this as three legs rather than four on a trade confirmation — the position is still four contracts.

Common mistake. The common mistake is entering with a wide market on the middle strike's two contracts, paying away most of the edge in execution cost before the position has even had a chance to work.

At a glance

Legs
3
Market view
Neutral — pinned
Opened for
Debit
What bounds the profit
Capped: only exactly at the middle strike
What bounds the loss
Limited to the net debit paid

The order ticket, from the worked example

#ActionInstrumentStrike
1BuyCall570
2SellCall ×2580
3BuyCall590

Payoff at expiry, across a price grid

Computed from the same strikes and net premium as the worked example above — not a simulation, the closed-form payoff evaluated at each price.

SPY at expiryP&L
560-$210.00
570-$210.00
580$790.00
590-$210.00
600-$210.00
610-$210.00

How this compares with related strategies

StrategyMarket viewOpened forLegs vs. this one
Call CondorNeutral — range-boundDebit+1
Iron ButterflyNeutral — pinnedCreditsame
Calendar SpreadNeutral — long volatility of timeDebit-1
Bull Call SpreadBullish — moderate, defined rangeDebit-1