Sell an out-of-the-money put and spend what it pays on an out-of-the-money call. Between the strikes little happens; outside them the position behaves much like a leveraged long. It can often be opened for no net premium, and that apparent cheapness is the thing to understand rather than the thing to like: the call is funded by accepting an obligation to buy shares well below the market, so the downside runs on exactly as a naked short put does. Price both strikes here and look first at the loss below the put strike, which is the number a zero-cost framing quietly hides.
Two legs, opposite sides of the market, usually quoted and filled as a single combined order the way a vertical is, which avoids being caught short the put with no long call if the market moves between two separate fills. The two strikes are chosen independently, unlike a vertical's shared expiry with linked strikes, so there is no fixed relationship between them beyond both being out of the money. Margin on the short put is calculated the same way a naked short put's margin is, regardless of the long call sitting beside it on the same ticket.
Margin on the short put dominates the account requirement here, calculated the same way a naked short put's margin is regardless of the long call sitting on the same ticket — a broker's margin calculator, not the zero or near-zero net premium, is the number that determines whether the position fits the account. Because it behaves like leveraged stock outside the strikes, many traders size it by the notional exposure it creates above the call strike, not by the small premium it costs to open. A market-wide selloff moves the short put further from the money at the same time margin requirements on it typically rise, which is the scenario this position handles worst.
Common mistake. The common mistake is treating a near-zero net premium as a near-zero risk, when the margin and the downside exposure below the put strike are exactly as large as a naked short put's on their own.
| # | Action | Instrument | Strike |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sell | Put | 550 |
| 2 | Buy | Call | 610 |
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 expiry | P&L |
|---|---|
| 500 | -$4980.00 |
| 525 | -$2480.00 |
| 550 | $20.00 |
| 580 | $20.00 |
| 610 | $20.00 |
| 640 | $3020.00 |
| Strategy | Market view | Opened for | Legs vs. this one |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collar | Neutral — hedged, bounded | Debit or credit | +1 |
| Long Call | Bullish — directional | Debit | -1 |
| Long Strangle | Volatility — direction-agnostic | Debit | same |
| Bull Call Spread | Bullish — moderate, defined range | Debit | same |