The diagonal bull call spread strategy involves buying long term calls and simultaneously writing an equal number of near-month calls of the same underlying stock with a higher strike.

This strategy is typically employed when the options trader is bullish on the underlying stock over the longer term but is neutral to mildly bullish in the near term. The ideal situation for the diagonal bull call spread buyer is when the underlying stock price remains unchanged and only goes up and beyond the strike price of the call sold when the long term call expires.

In this scenario, as soon as the near month call expires worthless, the options trader can write another call and repeat this process every month until expiration of the longer term call to reduce the cost of the trade. It may even be possible at some point in time to own the long term call "for free".

Under this ideal situation, maximum profit for the diagonal bull call spread is obtained and is equal to all the premiums collected for writing the near-month calls plus the difference in strike price of the two call options minus the initial debit taken to put on the trade. The maximum possible loss for the diagonal bull call spread is limited to the initial debit taken to put on the spread. This happens when the stock price goes down and stays down until expiration of the longer term call.

The trader will also be unable to write additional calls since they are too far out-of-the-money to bring in significant premiums. While we have covered the use of this strategy with reference to stock options, the diagonal bull call spread is equally applicable using ETF options, index options as well as options on futures. However, for active traders, commissions can eat up a sizable portion of their profits in the long run.

If you trade options actively, it is wise to look for a low commissions broker. Traders who trade large number of contracts in each trade should check out OptionsHouse. The following strategies are similar to the diagonal bull call spread in that they are also bullish strategies that have limited profit potential and limited risk.

Diagonal Spread | Definition of a Diagonal Spread | tastytrade | a real financial network

Your new trading account comes with a virtual trading platform which you can use to test out your trading strategies without risking hard-earned money. Buying straddles is a great way to play earnings. Many a times, stock price gap up or down following the quarterly earnings report but often, the direction of the movement can be unpredictable. For instance, a sell off can occur even though the earnings report is good if investors had expected great results If you are very bullish on a particular stock for the long term and is looking to purchase the stock but feels that it is slightly overvalued at the moment, then you may want to consider writing put options on the stock as a means to acquire it at a discount Also known as digital options, binary options belong to a special class of exotic options in which the option trader speculate purely on the direction of the underlying within a relatively short period of time Cash dividends issued by stocks have big impact on their option prices.

This is because the underlying stock price is expected to drop by the dividend amount on the ex-dividend date As an alternative to writing covered calls, one can enter a bull call spread for a similar profit potential but with significantly less capital requirement.

In place of holding the underlying stock in the covered call strategy, the alternative Some stocks pay generous dividends every quarter. You qualify for the dividend if you are holding on the shares before the ex-dividend date To achieve higher returns in the stock market, besides doing more homework on the companies you wish to buy, it is often necessary to take on higher risk.

A most common way to do that is to buy stocks on margin Day trading options can be a successful, profitable strategy but there are a couple of things you need to know before you use start using options for day trading Learn about the put call ratio, the way it is derived and how it can be used as a contrarian indicator Put-call parity is an important principle in options pricing first identified by Hans Stoll in his paper, The Relation Between Put and Call Prices, in It states that the premium of a call option implies a certain fair price for the corresponding put option having the same strike price and expiration date, and vice versa In options trading, you may notice the use of certain greek alphabets like delta or gamma when describing risks associated with various positions.

They are known as "the greeks" Since the value of stock options depends on the price of the underlying stock, it is useful to calculate the fair value of the stock by using a technique known as discounted cash flow Stocks, futures and binary options trading discussed on this website can be considered High-Risk Trading Operations and their execution can be very risky and may result in significant losses or even in a total loss of all funds on your account.

You should not risk more than you afford to lose.

Before deciding to trade, you need to ensure that you understand the risks involved taking into account your investment objectives and level of experience. Information on this website is provided strictly for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as a trading recommendation service. Toggle navigation The Options Guide.

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Diagonal Call Spread

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