Strategy Guides
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How to Trade Options Around Earnings: Straddles, Strangles, and the IV Crush Problem
Implied volatility spikes before earnings because no one knows what the company will report. The moment the report drops, that uncertainty collapses, and so does the IV. If you bought options into earnings without understanding this, you can be right about the direction and still lose money. That is the IV crush problem, and it…
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Bear Call Spread: How to Profit From a Bearish Outlook With Defined Risk
A bear call spread lets you profit from a bearish or neutral outlook while collecting premium upfront and capping your maximum loss before you place the trade. If you already understand how a bull put spread works, a bear call spread is its mirror image: instead of collecting credit below the market, you collect credit…
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Trading Options Around Bank Earnings Season: A Q1 2026 Playbook
The week of April 14, 2026 brings the most concentrated earnings event of Q1: JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup all report within a few days of each other. For options traders, this is not the same setup as a Tesla or NVIDIA earnings play. Bank earnings behave differently, and the…
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Calendar Spread Strategy: How to Profit from Time Decay Without Direction
A calendar spread gives you a defined-risk way to profit from time decay without needing the stock to move. You sell a short-dated option and buy a longer-dated option at the same strike, collecting the difference in premium. The near-term option decays faster, and if the stock sits still, you keep that decay as profit.…
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High-VIX Options Strategies: A Framework for Elevated-Volatility Markets
VIX above 30 changes the calculus for options traders. This guide covers how premium sellers evaluate iron condors, cash-secured puts, and position management in elevated-volatility markets.
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Cash-Secured Put: How It Works and When to Use It
The cash-secured put is often described as getting paid to buy a stock you want. Here is what that actually means, a hypothetical example, the real risks, and when the strategy makes sense.
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Iron Condor Strategy: How to Trade It and When It Works
The iron condor is a four-leg options trade that profits when a stock stays within a range. Here is how to construct one, a hypothetical example, and how to manage it.