SPYEQUITY
—NO QUOTE
Equities
Futures
% r
% q

Calendar Spread 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.

Short the front month and own a later one at the same strike. The near leg gives up time value faster than the back leg does, and that difference is the whole of the return. It is the one structure on this site whose payoff is not a set of straight lines: when the front expires the back is still alive and has to be valued by a model, so there is no arithmetic maximum to quote. It wants the underlying to sit still and it gains if implied volatility in the back month rises. Set both expiries here and read the modelled value at the front expiry rather than a payoff diagram.

The full Calendar Spread guide, worked example and FAQs →

Two options at the same strike, different expiries, usually filled as a single calendar order — most platforms support this directly, which matters because legging in exposes the position to the underlying moving between the two fills at two different implied volatilities. Because the position's value at the front expiry depends on the back month's implied volatility at that moment, not on anything fixed today, there is no single 'right' width or strike — only a most-likely level, chosen from where the underlying is expected to sit.

Sizing and account notes

Because the position has no closed-form maximum, many traders manage it by a target debit recovered — commonly closing once the position is worth some multiple of what was paid — rather than by a price target on the underlying, since the underlying finishing exactly at the strike is the best case and cannot be relied on. Early assignment on the short near leg, if it happens, leaves a long back-month option against a short stock or futures position rather than against nothing, which is a different and usually undesired exposure. This is typically approved at a spread-trading account tier, similar to a vertical, despite the model-dependent payoff.

Common mistake. The common mistake is holding to the front expiry expecting the theoretical maximum, which requires the underlying to sit exactly at the strike — a coincidence, not a plan.

At a glance

Legs
2
Market view
Neutral — long volatility of time
Opened for
Debit
What bounds the profit
No closed form — model-dependent
What bounds the loss
Limited to the net debit paid

The order ticket, from the worked example

#ActionInstrumentStrike
1SellCall (14d)580
2BuyCall (49d)580

No price grid is shown here: this structure has no closed-form payoff at expiry — the back leg is still alive and has to be valued by a model. Use the payoff curve in the calculator above.

How this compares with related strategies

StrategyMarket viewOpened forLegs vs. this one
Diagonal SpreadDirectional — with a time componentDebitsame
Call ButterflyNeutral — pinnedDebit+1
Long StraddleVolatility — direction-agnosticDebitsame
Iron CondorNeutral — range-boundCredit+2