SPYEQUITY
—NO QUOTE
Equities
Futures
% r
% q

Futures 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.

Long one delivery month and short another in the same product. The level of the curve drops out and its shape is what is left: the position pays when the differential between the two months widens or narrows, largely irrespective of the outright price. Every roll of a long-dated futures position is this trade, whether the person doing it thinks of it that way or not. Storage, financing and seasonality drive the differential, so contango and backwardation are the working vocabulary here rather than bullish and bearish. Set the two months here and read the spread and the carry implied between them.

The full Futures Calendar Spread guide, worked example and FAQs →

Same order type as any futures spread — one ticket, two delivery months, reduced margin from the exchange recognizing the offset. The near leg's first notice date is the real deadline on this position if the product is physically delivered; the spread has to be closed or rolled before it, regardless of where the differential sits. Because the position is quoted directly as the spread value rather than as two prices, watching that single number is usually more useful day to day than watching either outright leg.

Sizing and account notes

The near leg's first notice date is a hard deadline in a physically delivered product — holding a short near leg past it, rather than rolling or closing, can create a delivery obligation neither side of the trade was meant to take on. Because contango is capped by the cost of storage and financing while backwardation is not, position sizing here is often asymmetric: smaller size when positioned for the capped side, more room allowed when positioned for the side with no structural ceiling. The spread is quoted directly as a single number at most venues, which is the figure to watch rather than either outright leg.

Common mistake. The common mistake is holding a short near-month leg on a physically delivered product past its first notice date, turning a spread position into an unintended delivery obligation.

At a glance

Legs
2
Market view
Term structure — non-directional
Opened for
Margin
What bounds the profit
Capped by the cost of carry, in contango
What bounds the loss
Not capped, in backwardation

The order ticket, from the worked example

#ActionInstrumentStrike
1BuyCL Dec future78.40
2SellCL Jun future80.10

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.

Spread (Dec − Jun)P&L
-3.7-$2000.00
-2.7-$1000.00
-1.7$0.00
-0.7$1000.00
0.3$2000.00
1.3$3000.00

How this compares with related strategies

StrategyMarket viewOpened forLegs vs. this one
Futures SpreadRelative value — non-directionalMarginsame
Futures Inter-Commodity SpreadRelative value — processing marginMargin+1
Futures Basis TradeArbitrage — carry captureMarginsame
Calendar SpreadNeutral — long volatility of timeDebitsame