Options Strategies

The reader does not meet a single named strategy in Part 1. This part builds the six tools needed to understand every strategy that follows, so that later chapters can be short and concrete instead of re-deriving the basics each time.

• 1From one leg to manyA single option can only say so much. Combining legs lets you shape both your view and your risk, and every combination trades one thing away to gain another. 8 min
• 2Direction and volatility, the two questionsEvery strategy is a bet on two things at once, which way the underlying goes and how far it moves. A simple grid of direction against volatility sorts every strategy in this course. 9 min
• 3The shape and its four numbersA payoff diagram tells you almost everything about a strategy at a glance, the most you can make, the most you can lose, and where you break even. The strategy builder draws it for you before you trade. 9 min
• 4Where the numbers come fromThe payoff picture is not magic. For any multi-leg position you can work out the net premium, the breakevens, and the maximum profit and loss by hand, and you should, so the builder never surprises you. 9 min
• 5Delta, theta and vega add upThe Greeks you met one leg at a time in Options Basics add up across a position. The net delta, net theta and net vega of a combination tell you how it will behave as price, time and volatility change. 9 min
• 6The real-world layerA payoff diagram assumes a frictionless world. In the real Indian market, sold legs tie up margin, every trade pays brokerage and taxes, and an illiquid strike quietly bleeds you on the spread. This chapter adds those back. 9 min

This part covers every strategy on the Bullish tab of the strategy builder, in order of complexity. It teaches the mechanics of each family in full here, so the Bearish part that follows can lean on it as a mirror. Eleven strategies across five chapters.

• 7Two ways to be bullishYou can be bullish by buying a call, where you pay a premium and time works against you, or by selling a put, where you collect a premium and time works for you but you may be forced to buy. Same direction, opposite trades. 10 min
• 8The bullish workhorsesA vertical spread pairs a bought and a sold option at two strikes to make a cheaper, capped bullish bet. You can build it for a debit with calls or for a credit with puts, and both express the same view. 10 min
• 9Adding a volatility and time viewA call ratio back spread and a long call calendar are still bullish, but they also take a side on volatility and on time. The back spread wants a big move up; the calendar wants a slow drift and a rise in volatility. 11 min
• 10Betting the rise lands in a zoneA bull butterfly and a bull condor are cheap, defined-risk bets that the underlying rises to a specific zone by expiry and stops there. You pay little, and you win only if the move lands where you called it. 10 min
• 11Being long without a plain callA long future, a long synthetic future and a range forward all give you upside without buying a single call outright. Behind all three sits one idea, put-call parity, that a long call plus a short put equals being long the underlying. 10 min

This part covers every strategy on the Bearish tab. Each one is the mirror of a bullish structure from Part 2, so the chapters are shorter and built around the reflection: what flips, what stays the same, and the one bearish leg that carries genuinely unlimited risk. Eleven strategies across four chapters.

• 12Two ways to be bearish, one of them dangerousYou can be bearish by buying a put, with loss capped at the premium, or by selling a call. A naked short call is the single most dangerous leg in options, because a rising market has no ceiling. 9 min
• 13The mirror of the bullish workhorsesA bear put spread and a bear call spread are the exact mirrors of the bullish vertical spreads. One is a debit built with puts, the other a credit built with calls, and both cap the loss that a single short leg would leave open. 9 min
• 14The remaining bearish structures, mirror by mirrorThe put ratio back spread, the long put calendar, the bear butterfly and the bear condor each mirror a bullish structure already learned. Meeting them together, as reflections, shows how a single idea reappears pointed downward. 10 min
• 15Being short without a plain putA short future, a short synthetic future and a risk reversal give you downside exposure or downside protection built from calls and puts. Parity mirrors again, that a short call plus a long put equals being short the underlying. 9 min

This part covers every strategy on the Neutral tab: positions that profit when the underlying stays inside a range and volatility falls. This is where premium selling lives, and where the honest-risk drumbeat is loudest, because several of these can lose far more than they collect. Eight strategies across four chapters.

• 16Short straddle and short strangleSelling a straddle or a strangle collects premium from both sides at once and profits if the underlying sits still. The profit is capped at what you collect, and the loss on either side is not capped at all. 10 min
• 17Iron butterfly and short iron condorBuy a cheap wing on each side of a short straddle or strangle and the uncapped loss becomes a known, capped one. An iron butterfly and a short iron condor are the defined-risk way to sell a range. 10 min
• 18Batman and double plateauA Batman and a Double Plateau both aim to profit from a range, but with two humps rather than one. A Batman stacks a call ratio spread and a put ratio spread and keeps a naked tail on each side. A Double Plateau joins a bull condor and a bear condor for a fully capped, two-plateau version. 10 min
• 19Jade lizard and reverse jade lizardA jade lizard sells a put and a call spread so that, if the credit is large enough, there is no risk at all on the upside, leaving only the downside of the sold put. Its reverse flips this to remove the downside and leave the upside open. 9 min

This part covers every strategy on the Others tab of the strategy builder. These are the mirror of Part 4: instead of selling a quiet market, they pay for, or position for, a large move. The part is named for what the strategies do; in the app they live under Others. Eight strategies across three chapters.

• 20Long straddle, long strangle, strap and stripA long straddle or strangle buys both a call and a put, so it profits from a large move in either direction and does not care which way. A strap leans the bet bullish, a strip leans it bearish. Time decay is the price of waiting. 10 min
• 21Long iron butterfly and long iron condorA long iron butterfly and a long iron condor are the capped-cost way to bet on a big move. You pay a known debit and profit if the underlying breaks out of a middle band, giving up the open-ended profit of a plain straddle in return for a lower cost. 9 min
• 22Call ratio spread and put ratio spreadA ratio spread buys one option and sells two farther out, usually for a credit, and profits in a zone. The catch is the extra sold option, which leaves one side naked and the loss on that side open. It is a premium trade with a tail. 9 min

The strategies are all in hand. This part turns the catalogue into a way of working: how to choose, how to manage a live position, what the payoff diagram quietly leaves out, and how to move from the page into Niota's strategy builder and practice sandbox.

• 23From a view to a shortlistWith so many structures available, the skill is narrowing. Start from the grid, add your volatility view, then filter by the risk you can accept, the capital and margin you have, and the liquidity of the strikes. What remains is your shortlist. 9 min
• 24What to do after you enterA strategy is not a fire-and-forget bet. Deciding in advance when to book profit, when to cut, and how to roll or adjust a threatened position is most of what separates a plan from a hope. 9 min
• 25What the payoff diagram leaves outThe payoff diagram is drawn in a world with no costs. Real profit trails it, because of brokerage, the bid-ask spread, and taxes, and one Indian rule in particular: the securities transaction tax charged on the intrinsic value of an in-the-money option left to expire. 9 min
• 26Into the builder and the sandboxThe course closes where it is meant to be used. A short recap of the grid and the four tabs, then a walk through building a chosen strategy in Niota's strategy builder and rehearsing it in the practice sandbox before any real money is at stake. 8 min