Options Strategies
Plain-English guides with interactive payoff charts.
Key terms in 30 seconds
- Call / put
- A call is the right to buy 100 shares at the strike; a put is the right to sell them.
- Strike and expiration
- The agreed price, and the date the right ends.
- Premium
- What the option costs, quoted per share (× 100 for one contract).
- Breakeven
- The stock price at expiration where the trade neither makes nor loses money.
- Debit vs. credit
- Debit trades cost money up front (you buy options); credit trades pay you up front (you sell options).
More definitions in the options glossary, and beginner articles in Learn.
Covered Call
Own 100 shares and sell 1 call against them.
Cash-Secured Put
Sell a put and set aside enough cash to buy 100 shares at the strike if assigned.
Long Call
Buy a call: the right to buy 100 shares at the strike before expiration.
Long Put
Buy a put: the right to sell 100 shares at the strike.
Bull Call Spread
Buy a lower-strike call and sell a higher-strike call.
Bear Put Spread
Buy a higher-strike put and sell a lower-strike put.
Iron Condor
Sell an out-of-the-money put spread and an out-of-the-money call spread.
Long Straddle
Buy a call and a put at the same strike.
Long Strangle
Buy an out-of-the-money put and an out-of-the-money call.
Protective Put
Own shares and buy a put.
Collar
Own shares, buy a protective put, and sell a covered call to help pay for it.