SPYEQUITY
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Equities
Futures
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Call Condor 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.

Buy a low call, sell two calls at separated middle strikes, buy a high one. Stretching a butterfly peak into a plateau makes the structure forgiving: the maximum is earned across a band of settlement prices rather than at one of them, and the price of that is a lower maximum for the same debit. Built from calls alone, it pays for the same range an iron condor sells, financed by a debit instead of a credit. Four legs again, so the spread cost is the practical constraint on a small trade. Set the inner and outer strikes here and watch a wider body buy probability with profit.

The full Call Condor guide, worked example and FAQs →

Four distinct strikes on one ticket, unlike the butterfly's repeated middle strike — the structure to reach for when a single pinned price is too precise a bet to make. The gap between the two short strikes sets the width of the plateau where the maximum profit is held; widening it trades away some of the maximum for a larger window of prices that pay it. Compare this against pricing the equivalent iron condor at the same four strikes before choosing — the payoff is nearly identical and the choice usually comes down to which side has the tighter market.

Sizing and account notes

The wider plateau between the two short strikes is the trade-off against the butterfly's larger peak; size and strike choice should follow how confident the view is about a range rather than a single price, since paying more debit for a narrower plateau buys precision that a range view does not need. As with the butterfly, most of the position's value arrives in the final weeks before expiry, so an early exit at a small loss is common and not a sign the thesis was wrong, only that it has not yet had time to play out.

Common mistake. The common mistake is treating the four-strike debit version and the equivalent iron condor as interchangeable without comparing which side's market is actually tighter on the day.

At a glance

Legs
4
Market view
Neutral — range-bound
Opened for
Debit
What bounds the profit
Capped: held across the inner plateau
What bounds the loss
Limited to the net debit paid

The order ticket, from the worked example

#ActionInstrumentStrike
1BuyCall560
2SellCall575
3SellCall585
4BuyCall600

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
545-$440.00
565$60.00
580$1060.00
590$560.00
605-$440.00
620-$440.00

How this compares with related strategies

StrategyMarket viewOpened forLegs vs. this one
Call ButterflyNeutral — pinnedDebit-1
Iron CondorNeutral — range-boundCreditsame
Calendar SpreadNeutral — long volatility of timeDebit-2
Diagonal SpreadDirectional — with a time componentDebit-2