About Condor Strategies
Condors are similar in design to an iron condor (4 legs, same expiration, and strikes equidistant apart) but the strategy is more in line with that of a butterfly.
Long condors are bought for a debit, and short condors are sold for a credit.
Short condor position (both call and put) has the outside strikes sold and the inside strikes purchased. A long condor position (both call and put) has the outside strikes purchased and the inside strikes sold.
At expiration, a condor will have its maximum value equivalent to the distance between the consecutive strike prices, when the underlying is at or anywhere between the inside strike prices. The condor will be worthless if the underlying settles above the highest strike or below the lowest strike.
Long Call Condor Example
A long call condor spread is a consecutive bull call spread and a bear call spread combined, where you buy a call, sell a higher call below the underlying, sell a higher call above the underlying and buy a higher call. Each of the calls are equidistant. The long call condor strategy succeeds if the underlying security is trading between the two short call strikes at expiration.
- Long 1 September 90 Call
- Short 1 September 95 Call
- Short 1 September 100 Call
- Long 1 September 105 Call
Maximum Profit
The maximum profit for long call condor is the difference between the strike prices less the debit paid. This is achieved if the underlying is between the two inside strikes (between 95 and 100 for below example):
Long Call Condor Example
Long 1 September 90 Call @ $8.00
Short 1 September 95 Call @ $5.00
Short 1 September 100 Call @ $2.00
Long 1 September 105 Call @ $1.00
Net Debit is $2.00. Net Debit = (Leg 1 Ask - Leg 2 Bid - Leg 3 Bid + Leg 4 Ask)
Distance between strikes is $5.00.
Max profit is $3.00 ($5.00 – $2.00).
Maximum Risk
The maximum risk for the long call condor is limited to the premium paid (debit). In the above exampl, the net debit is $2.00. That is the most that can be lost on the spread. This is the same amount for the seller of the spread (net credit).
Break Even Calculations
Two break even prices:
- Lower break even = lowest strike price + net debit
- Upper break even = highest strike price – net debit
Long Call Condor Example
Long 1 September 90 Call @ $8.00
Short 1 September 95 Call @ $5.00
Short 1 September 100 Call @ $2.00
Long 1 September 105 Call @ $1.00
- Lower break even = $92.00 ($90 + $2)
- Upper break even= $103.00 ($105 – $2)
Probability
- Break Even Probability: Probability of the underlying trading inside of the two breakeven points at expiration.
- Max Risk Probability: Probability of the underlying expiring below the lowest strike price or above the highest strike price.
The screener results are initially sorted by descending "Probability of Profit."
The screener displays probability calculations based on the delayed stock price at the time the strategy is updated. Strikes that have not traded today are excluded from the results.
Options start updating for the new trading day at approximately 9:50a.m. ET. Options information is delayed approximately 25 to 30 minutes, and is updated approximately every 5-minutes through-out the trading day.
Note:Â Expired options are removed from the website Monday - Friday at 7:45pm ET.
Main features of the Screener include:
- Ability to add various filters, with hundreds of different combinations.
- Save a Screener: When you've defined filters that you want to use again, save the screener.
- Share Your Screener: Once you've saved a screener in your Barchart account, you can create a "share link" to send to your friends, associates, or any other interested parties. See details below.
- Load a Saved Screener: Select a previously saved set of Screener filters to view today's results.
- View the Results using Flipcharts: Page through charts of the underlying symbols on the results page.
- Download the Results: Download up to 1000 results to a .csv file. The Download will also pull all of the data fields present on the View you use.
- Screener Emails: When you save a screener, you can opt to receive the top 10, 25, or 50 results via email along with an optional .csv file of the top 1000 results. Emails can be sent at Market Open (9:00am CT), Mid-Day (12:00pm CT), End-of-Day (4:45pm CT), and Overnight (3:00am CT) Monday through Friday.
Note: When selecting the Filter View for your Screener email, a filter must identify a specific search value in order for it to be included in the email.
Filters
Barchart Premier subscribers can add or modify different filters on the screener to find calls on the most favorable stock options.
Reordering Filters
Once filters are added, you may drag and drop them in the SET FILTERS tab to reorder the way they appear on the RESULTS tab (when using the Filters View). Each filter you add has the "Order" icon which is used to reposition it.
Deleting Filters
To remove a filter from your screener, click the checkbox to the left of the filter name, then click the red "Delete" button at the top of the column. You may also select all filters for deletion by clicking the checkbox at the top of the column, which selects ALL filters for deletion. You will be asked to confirm your decision to delete.
So you can focus on the best options, the screener starts by applying these default filters. Filter settings should be adjusted to match your trading requirements.
- Days to Expiration (monthly expirations only) is between 1 and 60 days.
- Security Type is only Stocks.
- Options Volume Leg 1, 2, 3, 4: for US market, must be greater than or equal to 100. For Canadian market, must be greater than or equal to 1.
- Open Interest Leg 1, 2, 3, 4: must be greater than or equal to 0.
- Ask Price Leg 1 and Leg 4 is greater than 0.05.
- Bid Price Leg 2 and Leg 3 is greater than 0.05.
- Moneyness Leg 2 is greater than or equal to 0%.
- Moneyness Leg 3 is less than or equal to 0%.
- Net Delta is between -0.10 and 0.10
- Probability of Profit is greater than 25%
In addition:
- The stock price must be greater or equal to 1.00.
- The option must not be a "restricted" option. Non-standard or "restricted" options (options quotes marked with an asterisk * after the strike price, and found on an individual symbol's options page) are automatically removed from the screener. A "restricted option" is typically created after spin-offs or mergers, and is not tradeable.
- Strikes that have not traded today are excluded from the results.
Views
The Results page contains three standard views. You may switch the view using the links at the top of the screener results table. The Main View shows the Volume and Open Interest for each option, while the Dividend & Earnings View can be used to highlight strategies with upcoming dividends and earnings. The Filter view shows you the data contained in the field(s) you've added to the screener.
Main View
- Stock Symbol - the underlying equity. Clicking on the symbol will take you to the current quote page
- Price~ - the last price of the underlying symbol
- Exp Date - the expiration date (and days to expiration) of the option
- Leg1 Strike (Long) - the strike price of the leg1 option
- Leg1 Ask - the ask price of the leg1 option
- Leg2 Strike (Short) - the strike price of the leg2 option
- Leg2 Bid - the bid price of the leg2 option
- Leg 3 Strike (Short) - the strike price of the leg3 option
- Leg3 Bid - the bid price of the leg3 option
- Leg4 Strike (Long) - the strike price of the leg4 option
- Leg4 Ask - the ask price of the leg4 option
- BE+ - the upper limit for the price to stay within, necessary for the strategy to break even. (Leg4 Strike - Net Debit)
- BE- - the lower limit for the price to stay within, necessary for the strategy to break even. (Leg1 Strike + Net Debit)
- Max Profit - Max Profit = Outer Strike Differential - Net Debit (Max Loss)
- Max Loss - Max Loss = Net Debit, which is the premium paid to enter the trade
- Risk/Reward Ratio - the Max Loss to Max Profit ratio
- IV Rank - The ATM average implied volatility relative to the highest and lowest values over the past 1-year. If IV Rank is 100% this means the IV is at its highest level over the past 1-year
- Probability of Profit - the likelihood of the strategy making money
Dividend & Earnings View
- Stock Symbol - the underlying asset. Clicking on the symbol will take you to the current quote page
- Name - the name of the underlying asset
- Price~ - the last price of the underlying symbol
- Latest Earnings - the next reported earnings date, or the latest earnings date as reported by the company (if no future date has been released)
- Released - the timing of the earnings report release
- Last Dividend Date - the ex-dividend date on which the most recent dividend was paid
- Dividend - the last dividend paid
- Dividend(a) - the trailing annual dividend amount paid
- Dividend Yield(a)Â - the dividend yield based on the annual dividend paid over the past year
- Dividend Date - The next ex-dividend, or the latest ex-dividend date is no future date has been released.
Share Screener
Once you save a screener to your account, you may share either the details of the screener (including all your filters) or just the results of your screener with anyone you send the link to.
First, save your screener, making sure the view and sort you select in the saved screener modal is the one you want to share. You may share any of our "Standard" views (Main, Technical, Performance, etc.) or the Filter view. Shared screeners saved using one of your Custom views will only share the Filter view, as the Custom view is specific to your Barchart account.
Next, click the "share" link found on the Results tab. You will be asked what to share:
- Share Screener with Filters - the people you share the link with will be able to save the same screener in their Barchart account and view/modify the filters you used.
- Only Share the Results - the people you share the link with will not be able to save this screener in their Barchart account or view the filters you used to create the screener. This option would be used if you wish to keep your screener filters proprietary.
The share link is copied to your clipboard, and you are now free to send that link to anyone. Any further changes you save to your screener are automatically updated on the "share link" you initially generated.
Furthermore, if the end-user bookmarks the shared link (regardless of whether filters were shared or not) they will always see new results each time they open the link.