Option Strategy Spotlight: Long Call vs Bull Call Spread

This is similar in nature to the bull spread but uses a strategy for the belief that prices will continue to drop. The bear spread is built by selling a call option with a strike price, and then buying a call option at a higher strike price. The bull spread is determined by using strike prices between the high and low prices a trader wants to https://www.bigshotrading.info/ trade at. A strike price is an option a trader purchases, with no requirement to execute, which guarantees them the ability to purchase or sell at the price they purchased. The bull call spread option trading strategy is employed when the options trader thinks that the price of the underlying asset will go up moderately in the near term.

Suppose you are bullish on Nifty, currently trading 10,500, and expecting a mild rise in its price. You can benefit from this strategy by buying a Call with a Strike price of 10,300 at a premium of 170 and selling a Call option with a strike price 10,700 at a premium of Rs 60. The net premium paid here bull call spread calculator is Rs 110 which is also your maximum loss. The finite difference method numerically solves a PDE by discretizing the underlying price and time variables into a grid. For the finite difference method, the composition of the grid has a large impact on the quality of the output and the execution time.

Maximum risk

A bull put spread—or a short put spread—is the difference between two put options . The trader purchases a short put option with a high strike price and a long put option with a low strike price, in an attempt to garner a premium from the sale. As discussed earlier, the Kirk’s approximation tends to overprice spread options when the strike is further away from zero.

• There is no fundamental reason backing the stock price decline, hence there is a good chance that the stock price could revert to mean.
• An American style option can be priced by Monte Carlo methods using the least square method of Longstaff and Schwartz .
• Your maximum loss is capped at the price you pay for the option.
• Alternatively, the short call can be purchased to close and the long call can be kept open.
• When placing a debit spread, the risk amount is the price of the spread plus any transaction costs.

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What is Bull Call Spread?

The finite difference method and Monte Carlo method can price both European and American options. However, they are not as fast in pricing European spread options as compared to closed form solutions. The stock price of XYZ begins to rise and closes at $46 on expiration date. Both options expire in-the-money with the JUL 40 call having an intrinsic value of $600 and the JUL 45 call having an intrinsic value of $100.

Monte Carlo simulation uses random sampling to simulate movements of the underlying asset prices. However, it usually takes a long time to run, especially if sensitivities are calculated. Be sure to understand all risks involved with each strategy, including commission costs, before attempting to place any trade. Clients must consider all relevant risk factors, including their own personal financial situations, before trading. Once you know your risk per contract on a vertical spread, you need to determine how much you’re willing to risk on the trade. However, for active traders, commissions can eat up a sizable portion of their profits in the long run.

Bull Call Spread Profit, Loss, & Breakeven

If at expiry, the stock price has risen and is trading above the upper strike price—the second, sold call option—the investor exercises their first option with the lower strike price. Now, they may purchase the shares for less than the current market value.

It is also known as a “long call spread” and as a “debit call spread.” The term “bull” refers to the fact that the strategy profits with bullish, or rising, stock prices. The term “long” refers to the fact that this strategy is “long the market,” which is another way of saying that it profits from rising prices.

Implied Volatility

An options trader buys 1 Citigroup June 21 call at the $50 strike price and pays $2 per contract when Citigroup is trading at $49 per share. An expensive premium might make a call option not worth buying since the stock’s price would have to move significantly higher to offset the premium paid. Called the break-even point , this is the price equal to the strike price plus the premium fee. A complete loss occurs anywhere below the lower purchased call strike price ($52.50) which amounts to the entire premium paid of $42.

• To confirm this, a spread option is priced with the same attributes as before, but for a range of strike prices.
• The maximum reward of this spread strategy is the difference in the Strike Price of the two call options minus the total premium paid for these two strike prices plus the total brokerage costs.
• A put spread strategy is similar but with put options instead of call options.
• Box spreads are usually only opened with European options, whose exercise is not allowed until the option’s expiration.
• As a side note, this max profit occurs when the stock price is at $55.00 or higher at expiration.

Once you purchase a long call or put, you can expect that your option is going to lose a little bit of value every day until expiration, all other things being equal. An estimate of how much might be lost is expressed in the “Greek” measure known as Theta.

Options Pricing

On the other hand, bullish call spread provides profit in 2 out of 3 scenarios. Also, in the third scenario, when a stock moves opposite to the view, it minimizes the losses. The value of the option will decay as time passes, and is sensitive to changes in volatility. Your maximum loss is capped at the price you pay for the option.

However, any further gains in the $50 call are forfeited, and the trader’s profit on the two call options would be $9 ($10 gain – $1 net cost). Lawrence Pines is a Princeton University graduate with more than 25 years of experience as an equity and foreign exchange options trader for multinational banks and proprietary trading groups. Mr. Pines has traded on the NYSE, CBOE and Pacific Stock Exchange. In 2011, Mr. Pines started his own consulting firm through which he advises law firms and investment professionals on issues related to trading, and derivatives.