Options Strategy Library & Strategy Selector

Start here: Which family fits your goal?

Own stock and want income?

Start with Covered Call, Wheel, Covered Strangle, Covered Ratio Call, or Stock Repair depending on your objective.

Want defined-risk direction?

Use Bull Call, Bear Put, Bull Put, or Bear Call spreads before considering ratio or synthetic structures.

Expect a big move?

Long Straddle, Long Strangle, Long Guts, Call Backspread, or Put Backspread.

Expect a range?

Iron Condor, Butterfly, Iron Butterfly, Condor, Calendar, Double Calendar, or Double Diagonal.

Need protection?

Protective Put, Collar, or Protective Call depending on whether you are long or short stock.

Advanced pricing / financing?

Box Spread, Conversion, and Reverse Conversion are parity/financing structures—not normal directional trades.

Interactive strategy selector

Choose the closest match. The tool will rank strategies from this library; it is a narrowing tool, not a recommendation engine.

1. Market outlook

2. Primary objective

3. Risk tolerance

4. Complexity

5. Current position

6. Expected size of move

Fast decision guide

If you believe...	Start with...	Why	Avoid first if...
Moderate rise	Bull Call Spread	Simple, defined-risk bullish trade	You expect an explosive rally
Moderate decline	Bear Put Spread	Simple, defined-risk bearish trade	You expect only sideways action
Stock stays above a level	Bull Put Spread	Defined-risk premium income	You cannot tolerate assignment/margin issues
Stock stays below a level	Bear Call Spread	Defined-risk bearish income	You expect a large upside breakout
Stock stays in a broad range	Iron Condor	Defined-risk range income	You expect a large catalyst move
Stock finishes near a target	Butterfly / Condor	Efficient target-price structures	You cannot estimate a range
Huge move, direction unknown	Long Straddle / Strangle	Long-volatility exposure	Implied volatility is extremely expensive and likely to collapse
Own stock and want protection	Protective Put / Collar	Creates downside protection	You are unwilling to pay premium or cap upside
Own stock and want income	Covered Call / Wheel	Monetizes time decay	You refuse to sell shares if assigned
Own losing stock and expect rebound	Stock Repair	Can lower the recovery price	You no longer believe in the stock
Short stock and want protection	Protective Call	Caps short-stock upside risk	You do not actually need the short position
Need financing / parity structure	Box / Conversion	Fixed-payoff or parity relationships	You are seeking a directional trade

Fundamentals & core guides

Buy to Open: Call / PutUnderstand buying calls and puts. Buy to CloseUnderstand how to close short options. Iron CondorCore defined-risk neutral income strategy. CollarLong stock + protective put + covered call.

All strategy pages

Search by strategy name, outlook, category, objective, risk, or complexity.

#	Strategy	Category	Outlook	Objective	Risk	Complexity
1	Protective Put Own stock and buy a put to create a downside floor while keeping upside.	Stock + Option	Bullish / Protective	Protect downside	Defined	Beginner
2	Bull Call Spread Buy a call and sell a higher call to reduce cost and cap upside.	Directional	Bullish	Moderate upside	Defined	Beginner
3	Bear Put Spread Buy a put and sell a lower put for defined-risk bearish exposure.	Directional	Bearish	Moderate downside	Defined	Beginner
4	Bull Put Spread Sell a put spread and profit if the stock stays above the short strike.	Income / Credit	Bullish / Neutral	Premium income	Defined	Beginner
5	Bear Call Spread Sell a call spread and profit if the stock stays below the short strike.	Income / Credit	Bearish / Neutral	Premium income	Defined	Beginner
6	Wheel Strategy Sell cash-secured puts, accept shares if assigned, then sell covered calls.	Stock Acquisition / Income	Neutral / Bullish	Income + acquire stock	Stock downside	Intermediate
7	Long Straddle Buy ATM call and put; needs a large move or volatility expansion.	Volatility	Big move either way	Profit from large move	Defined	Intermediate
8	Long Strangle Buy OTM call and put; cheaper than straddle but needs a larger move.	Volatility	Big move either way	Lower-cost volatility bet	Defined	Intermediate
9	Butterfly Spread Defined-risk 1-2-1 spread with a narrow target around the middle strike.	Range / Target	Neutral / Targeted	Target a price	Defined	Intermediate
10	Iron Butterfly Short straddle with protective wings; best near the center strike.	Range / Income	Neutral	Premium income	Defined	Intermediate
11	Calendar Spread Sell near-term option and buy longer-dated option at same strike.	Time / Volatility	Neutral / Targeted	Time decay	Defined-ish / dynamic	Intermediate
12	Diagonal Spread Calendar-like structure with different strikes and expirations.	Time / Directional	Directional / Neutral	Time decay + direction	Defined-ish / dynamic	Intermediate
13	Poor Man's Covered Call Long-dated deep-ITM call plus recurring short calls as a stock substitute.	Income / Capital Efficient	Bullish / Neutral	Call income	Defined-ish	Intermediate
14	Covered Strangle Own stock and sell both a covered call and cash-secured put.	Stock + Income	Neutral / Bullish	Premium income	Large stock downside	Advanced
15	Short Strangle Sell OTM call and put; wide profit zone but very large tail risk.	Volatility / Income	Neutral	Premium income	Undefined	Advanced
16	Short Straddle Sell ATM call and put; high premium but significant tail risk.	Volatility / Income	Neutral	Maximum premium	Undefined	Advanced
17	Call Ratio Spread Buy one call and sell two higher calls; can become naked above upper break-even.	Directional / Ratio	Moderately Bullish	Targeted upside	Undefined	Advanced
18	Call Backspread Sell one lower call and buy two higher calls; benefits from a large rally.	Volatility / Directional	Strongly Bullish	Explosive upside	Defined loss / unlimited upside	Advanced
19	Put Ratio Spread Buy one put and sell two lower puts; risk grows if stock falls too far.	Directional / Ratio	Moderately Bearish	Targeted downside	Large downside risk	Advanced
20	Put Backspread Sell one higher put and buy two lower puts; benefits from a sharp decline.	Volatility / Directional	Strongly Bearish	Large downside move	Defined loss	Advanced
21	Broken-Wing Butterfly Unequal-wing butterfly that shifts risk to one side.	Range / Target	Directional / Targeted	Low-cost target trade	Defined asymmetric	Advanced
22	Jade Lizard Short put plus call credit spread; can eliminate upside loss if credit is large enough.	Income / Asymmetric	Neutral / Bullish	Premium income	Large downside risk	Advanced
23	Reverse Jade Lizard Put credit spread plus short call; downside can be protected while upside remains exposed.	Income / Asymmetric	Neutral / Bearish	Premium income	Undefined upside	Advanced
24	Synthetic Long Stock Long call + short put at same strike approximates long stock.	Synthetic	Bullish	Stock-like exposure	Large downside	Intermediate
25	Synthetic Short Stock Long put + short call at same strike approximates short stock.	Synthetic	Bearish	Short-stock-like exposure	Undefined upside	Intermediate
26	Long Combo / Bullish Risk Reversal Buy OTM call and sell OTM put to finance bullish exposure.	Synthetic / Directional	Bullish	Low-cost upside	Large downside	Advanced
27	Short Combo / Bearish Risk Reversal Buy OTM put and sell OTM call to finance bearish exposure.	Synthetic / Directional	Bearish	Low-cost downside	Undefined upside	Advanced
28	Box Spread Bull call spread + bear put spread creates a fixed expiration payoff.	Arbitrage / Financing	Direction-neutral	Financing / parity	Operational	Advanced
29	Conversion Long stock + long put - short call creates a nearly fixed payoff.	Arbitrage / Financing	Direction-neutral	Parity / financing	Operational	Advanced
30	Reverse Conversion Short stock + short put + long call; opposite side of conversion.	Arbitrage / Financing	Direction-neutral	Parity / financing	Borrow-dependent	Advanced
31	Long Guts Buy ITM call and ITM put; expensive but both legs start with intrinsic value.	Volatility	Big move either way	Large move	Defined	Advanced
32	Short Guts Sell ITM call and put; large credit but substantial assignment and tail risk.	Volatility / Income	Neutral	Premium income	Undefined	Advanced
33	Seagull Spread Vertical spread plus extra short option to finance the trade.	Directional / Asymmetric	Bullish or Bearish	Low-cost directional	Asymmetric / may be undefined	Advanced
35	Christmas Tree Spread Asymmetric 1-2-1 structure designed around a target zone.	Range / Target	Directional / Targeted	Moderate target move	Defined asymmetric	Advanced
36	Condor Spread Four-strike long condor with a broader max-profit zone than a butterfly.	Range / Target	Neutral / Targeted	Wide target range	Defined	Intermediate
37	Double Diagonal Spread Put diagonal + call diagonal using different strikes and expirations.	Time / Volatility	Range-bound	Time decay + IV	Dynamic	Advanced
38	Double Calendar Spread Put calendar + call calendar using same strikes across two expirations.	Time / Volatility	Range-bound	Time decay + IV	Dynamic	Advanced
39	Covered Put Short stock + short put; bearish counterpart to a covered call.	Stock + Income	Bearish	Income on short stock	Undefined upside	Advanced
40	Protective Call Short stock + long call to cap the short position's upside loss.	Stock + Option	Bearish / Protective	Protect short stock	Defined	Intermediate
41	Stock Repair Strategy Long stock + 1x2 call spread to lower the price needed to recover basis.	Stock + Option	Moderate rebound	Recover underwater stock	Stock downside	Intermediate
42	Covered Ratio Call Spread Long stock + 1x2 call spread to boost gains up to a target.	Stock + Option	Moderately Bullish	Enhance target-zone upside	Stock downside / capped upside	Advanced

How to choose responsibly

Prefer defined risk first.
For most users, vertical spreads, protective positions, butterflies, condors, and iron condors are easier to size and explain.

Premium is not the same as profit.
Short-option strategies can collect attractive credit while carrying much larger assignment or tail risk.

Undefined risk needs special handling.
Naked calls, short straddles/strangles, ratio spreads, Jade Lizard variants, and short-stock structures can create losses far larger than the premium received.

Expiration matters as much as strike.
Time decay, earnings, ex-dividend dates, volatility, and assignment risk can materially change the same strategy.