SPYEQUITY
—NO QUOTE
Equities
Futures
% r
% q

Collar 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
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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.

Long shares, a protective put beneath them, and a call sold above to pay for it. The outcome is fenced on both sides and the financing is usually close to free, which matters more than it sounds: protection that has to be funded out of pocket every quarter rarely survives a year. It is the standard structure for a concentrated holding that cannot simply be sold, and it works by handing away upside the holder was not counting on. One number states the whole compromise — the distance between floor and cap. Set both strikes here and read the net debit or credit alongside it.

The full Collar guide, worked example and FAQs →

Three components on one position: the shares already held, a put bought, a call sold — usually entered as a combined options order against the existing stock rather than as two separate legs. Choosing the two strikes so the premiums roughly offset is a search, not a formula; moving either strike by one increment changes the net cost and the width of the fenced range together. Because the call obligates you to sell at its strike, check the position's cost basis against that strike before entering — a collar struck below the cost basis locks in a loss if it is ever exercised.

Sizing and account notes

Because the call obligates a sale at its strike, running a collar in a tax-advantaged account avoids forcing a taxable disposal if the shares are ever called away — the same reason covered calls concentrate there. Choosing the two strikes equidistant from the current price is a common starting point, then adjusting one to bring the net cost near zero; the resulting asymmetry is a real choice about which side to protect more, not an artifact of the search. A collar entered around a known lock-up expiry or blackout date is usually sized to cover exactly that window, then removed once trading restrictions lift.

Common mistake. The common mistake is setting the call strike below the cost basis to squeeze more premium out of the structure, which locks in a loss on assignment even though the trade nets a small credit.

At a glance

Legs
3
Market view
Neutral — hedged, bounded
Opened for
Debit or credit
What bounds the profit
Capped: the call strike
What bounds the loss
Capped: the put strike

The order ticket, from the worked example

#ActionInstrumentStrike
1HoldShares ×100—
2BuyPut560
3SellCall605

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
520-$15.00
540-$15.00
560-$15.00
580$1985.00
605$4485.00
625$4485.00

How this compares with related strategies

StrategyMarket viewOpened forLegs vs. this one
Protective PutBullish — hedgedDebit-1
Covered CallNeutral to mildly bullish — incomeDebit or credit-1
Risk ReversalBullish — leveraged, undefined riskDebit or credit-1
Bull Put SpreadBullish to neutral — incomeCredit-1