Every strategy, in one place

The full StrategyGyan library — 57 strategies across seven families, listed by family below and A–Z at the bottom. Each has a plain-English definition, an original payoff diagram, its Greeks, its risks and worked NIFTY and BANKNIFTY examples.

How many option strategies are there? There is no fixed number — strategies are combinations of a small set of building blocks, so the list is open-ended. StrategyGyan documents the 57 that are named, established and worth knowing, organised into seven families. 35 of them have a structurally defined maximum loss; the remainder do not.

Option Buying Strategies

Option buying strategies are positions whose net premium is paid rather than received. The buyer's maximum loss is limited to that premium, while time decay works agains…

Option Selling Strategies

Option selling strategies collect a net premium in exchange for an obligation to buy or sell the underlying. Theta works in the seller's favour, but naked calls carry th…

Covered Call

Neutral

Covered Call is a long position in the underlying with a call sold against it: the premium lowers the cost of the holding and caps its upside at the …

Own the underlying + sell 1 OTM call against it Undefined

Cash-Secured Put

Bullish

Cash-Secured Put is a short put backed by enough cash to buy the underlying at the strike if assigned: you collect a premium for accepting the obliga…

Sell 1 OTM put with the full assignment value set aside in cash Undefined

Naked Put

Bullish

Naked Put is a short put held on margin rather than against reserved cash: the payoff is identical to a cash-secured put, but because only margin is …

Sell 1 OTM put on margin, without setting the strike value aside Undefined

Naked Call

Bearish

Naked Call is a short call with no underlying and no long call above it: the premium is the entire reward, while the loss is theoretically unlimited …

Sell 1 OTM call on margin, with no offsetting long — educational only Undefined

Short Straddle

Neutral

Short Straddle sells a call and a put at the same strike, collecting both premiums to profit if the underlying barely moves: the combined credit is t…

Sell 1 ATM call + sell 1 ATM put at the same strike Undefined

Short Strangle

Neutral

Short Strangle sells an out-of-the-money call and an out-of-the-money put, collecting both premiums to profit if the underlying stays between the str…

Sell 1 OTM call + sell 1 OTM put at different strikes Undefined

Collar

Neutral

A Collar holds the underlying, buys a protective put below the current price and sells a call above it, so the loss is floored below the put strike a…

Hold the underlying + buy 1 OTM put + sell 1 OTM call Defined

Spread Strategies

A spread strategy holds two or more options of the same type on the same underlying, differing in strike, expiry, or both. Vertical spreads differ by strike, horizontal …

Bull Call Spread

Bullish

A Bull Call Spread buys a lower-strike call and sells a higher-strike call of the same expiry for a net debit, giving a moderately bullish position w…

Buy lower-strike call + sell higher-strike call, same expiry Defined

Bear Put Spread

Bearish

A Bear Put Spread buys a higher-strike put and sells a lower-strike put of the same expiry for a net debit, a moderately bearish position whose maxim…

Buy higher-strike put + sell lower-strike put, same expiry Defined

Bull Put Spread

Bullish

A Bull Put Spread sells a higher-strike put and buys a lower-strike put of the same expiry for a net credit, a moderately bullish position that keeps…

Sell higher-strike put + buy lower-strike put, same expiry Defined

Bear Call Spread

Bearish

A Bear Call Spread sells a lower-strike call and buys a higher-strike call of the same expiry for a net credit, a moderately bearish position that ke…

Sell lower-strike call + buy higher-strike call, same expiry Defined

Call Ratio Spread

Neutral

A Call Ratio Spread buys one call and sells two higher-strike calls of the same expiry, usually for a net credit; because it is net short one call, t…

Buy 1 lower-strike call + sell 2 higher-strike calls, same expiry Undefined

Put Ratio Spread

Neutral

A Put Ratio Spread buys one put and sells two lower-strike puts of the same expiry, usually for a net credit; because it is net short one put, the wo…

Buy 1 higher-strike put + sell 2 lower-strike puts, same expiry Undefined

Call Ratio Backspread

Bullish

A Call Ratio Backspread sells one lower-strike call and buys two higher-strike calls of the same expiry; being net long one call, its risk is defined…

Sell 1 lower-strike call + buy 2 higher-strike calls, same expiry Defined

Calendar Spread

Neutral

A Calendar Spread sells a near-dated option and buys a longer-dated option at the same strike for a net debit, profiting when time decays the short l…

Sell near-dated option + buy longer-dated option, same strike Defined

Diagonal Spread

Bullish

A Diagonal Spread sells a near-dated option and buys a longer-dated option at a different strike, combining the time-decay edge of a calendar with th…

Sell near-dated option + buy longer-dated option, different strike Defined

Vertical Spread

Direction-agnostic

A Vertical Spread combines a long and a short option of the same type and expiry but different strikes; the shared expiry and the strike width togeth…

Long + short option of the same type and expiry, different strikes Defined

Horizontal Spread

Neutral

A Horizontal Spread, the taxonomic name for a calendar, pairs two options of the same strike and type whose expiries differ along the time axis of th…

Same strike, two expiries — the taxonomic name for a calendar Defined

Long Call Ladder

Neutral

A Long Call Ladder buys one lower-strike call and sells two higher-strike calls at different strikes of the same expiry, usually for a small credit. …

Buy 1 lower-strike call + sell 1 middle-strike call + sell 1 higher-strike call, same expiry Undefined

Put Ratio Backspread

Bearish

A Put Ratio Backspread sells one higher-strike put and buys two lower-strike puts of the same expiry; being net long one put, its risk is defined and…

Sell 1 higher-strike put + buy 2 lower-strike puts, same expiry Defined

Neutral Strategies

Neutral option strategies are multi-leg positions built to profit when the underlying stays within, or moves outside, a defined price range rather than in a particular d…

Iron Condor

Neutral

An Iron Condor is a defined-risk neutral strategy that sells an out-of-the-money put spread and an out-of-the-money call spread, collecting a net cre…

Sell OTM put + buy further OTM put + sell OTM call + buy further OTM call Defined

Iron Butterfly

Neutral

An Iron Butterfly is a defined-risk neutral strategy that sells an at-the-money put and call on one strike and buys wings above and below, collecting…

Sell ATM put + sell ATM call + buy OTM put wing + buy OTM call wing Defined

Long Butterfly

Neutral

A Long Butterfly is a defined-risk neutral strategy of three equally spaced call strikes — buy one lower, sell two middle, buy one higher — for a sma…

Buy 1 lower call + sell 2 middle calls + buy 1 higher call Defined

Short Butterfly

Volatile

A Short Butterfly is a defined-risk, three-strike call strategy that collects a small credit kept only if the underlying finishes away from the middl…

Sell 1 lower call + buy 2 middle calls + sell 1 higher call Defined

Long Condor

Neutral

A Long Condor is a defined-risk neutral strategy built from four call strikes for a debit, paying a flat maximum across the range between its two inn…

Buy 1 lower call + sell 2 middle calls at two strikes + buy 1 higher call Defined

Short Condor

Volatile

A Short Condor is a defined-risk strategy of four call strikes that collects a small credit kept only if the underlying finishes outside the range, a…

Sell 1 lower call + buy 2 middle calls at two strikes + sell 1 higher call Defined

Christmas Tree Spread

Neutral

A Christmas Tree Spread is a defined-risk, mildly bullish strategy built from calls in a 1×3×2 ratio — buy one lower, sell three middle, buy two high…

Buy 1 lower call + sell 3 middle calls + buy 2 higher calls Defined

Box Spread

Direction-agnostic

A Box Spread combines a bull call spread and a bear put spread on the same two strikes so the payoff is fixed at the strike distance whatever the und…

Bull call spread + bear put spread on the same two strikes Defined

Jade Lizard

Neutral

A Jade Lizard is a neutral-to-bullish strategy that sells an out-of-the-money put and an out-of-the-money call spread, structured so the total credit…

Sell OTM put + sell OTM call + buy further OTM call Undefined

Broken Wing Butterfly

Neutral

A Broken Wing Butterfly is a defined-risk butterfly with deliberately unequal wing widths, skewed so the structure costs almost nothing and the loss …

Buy 1 lower call + sell 2 middle calls + buy 1 higher call with an unequal wider wing Defined

Volatility Strategies

Volatility strategies are positions whose profit depends on the magnitude of the underlying's movement and on changes in implied volatility, rather than on direction. Lo…

Long Straddle

Volatile

Long Straddle buys an at-the-money call and an at-the-money put on the same strike and expiry, so it profits from a large move in either direction, a…

Buy 1 ATM call + buy 1 ATM put, same strike, same expiry Defined

Long Strangle

Volatile

Long Strangle buys an out-of-the-money call and an out-of-the-money put, so it costs less than a straddle but needs a larger move to break even and l…

Buy 1 OTM call + buy 1 OTM put, different strikes, same expiry Defined

Reverse Iron Condor

Volatile

Reverse Iron Condor is a four-leg long-volatility structure — an iron condor with every leg reversed — that pays a capped profit when the underlying …

Buy inner call + sell outer call + buy inner put + sell outer put (an iron condor reversed) Defined

Long Calendar Spread

Neutral

Long Calendar Spread sells a near-dated option and buys a far-dated option at the same strike, profiting from the faster decay of the near leg while …

Sell a near-dated option + buy a far-dated option at the same strike Defined

Double Calendar Spread

Neutral

Double Calendar Spread places two calendars at different strikes — one below spot, one above — widening the single calendar's tent into a profit plat…

Two calendars — a put calendar below spot and a call calendar above, each same-strike across two expiries Defined

Strap

Volatile

A Strap buys two at-the-money calls and one at-the-money put of the same strike and expiry, for a net debit. Like a straddle it profits from a large …

Buy 2 ATM calls + buy 1 ATM put, same strike and expiry Defined

Strip

Volatile

A Strip buys one at-the-money call and two at-the-money puts of the same strike and expiry, for a net debit. Like a straddle it profits from a large …

Buy 1 ATM call + buy 2 ATM puts, same strike and expiry Defined

Futures & Directional Strategies

Futures trading strategies are rule-based approaches to entering and exiting a linear, leveraged position. Trend following, breakout, pullback, mean reversion, momentum,…

Trend Following

Direction-agnostic

Trend Following is a futures approach that assumes returns are autocorrelated — that a move already underway is more likely to continue than to rever…

Long or short NIFTY futures held in the direction of the prevailing move Undefined

Breakout Trading

Direction-agnostic

Breakout Trading is a futures approach that assumes volatility clusters — that a period of contraction is followed by expansion — so it takes a posit…

Long or short NIFTY futures taken as price clears a defined level after a period of contraction Undefined

Pullback Trading

Direction-agnostic

Pullback Trading is a futures approach that assumes an established trend persists through a temporary counter-move, so it enters in the trend's direc…

Long or short NIFTY futures entered on a counter-move within an established trend Undefined

Mean Reversion

Neutral

Mean Reversion is a futures approach that assumes returns are negatively autocorrelated — that a market stretched away from its average tends to snap…

Long or short NIFTY futures taken against a stretch away from an average, betting on a return Undefined

Momentum Trading

Direction-agnostic

Momentum Trading is a futures approach that buys instruments with strong recent returns and often shorts weak ones, betting that relative performance…

Long the strongest and/or short the weakest instruments ranked by recent relative return Undefined

Range Trading

Neutral

Range Trading is a futures approach that assumes a market stays within an identified band, so it buys near the floor and sells near the ceiling — win…

Sell near the top of an identified band and buy near the bottom, betting the band holds Undefined

Gap Trading

Volatile

Gap Trading is a futures approach that positions around an opening gap, betting either that price fills back toward the prior close or continues in t…

Long or short NIFTY futures taken around an opening gap, betting it fills or continues Undefined

Pair Trading

Neutral

Pair Trading is a futures approach that goes long one instrument and short a correlated other, aiming to profit from the spread between them revertin…

Long one instrument and short a correlated other, betting the spread between them mean-reverts Undefined

Expiry Strategies

Expiry strategies are concepts built around how option Greeks behave as time to expiry approaches zero. Theta decay accelerates while gamma rises sharply, so small moves…

Weekly Expiry

Direction-agnostic

Weekly Expiry refers to index option contracts that expire within days rather than a month, carrying less total time value but much higher theta and …

No fixed legs — a concept page about short-dated weekly contracts Defined

Monthly Expiry

Direction-agnostic

Monthly Expiry refers to index and stock option and futures contracts that expire at month-end, carrying more total time value, slower per-day decay,…

No fixed legs — a concept page about month-end contracts and rollover Defined

Zero Days to Expiry (0DTE) Concepts

Volatile

Zero Days to Expiry concepts describe the day a contract expires, when at-the-money gamma reaches its maximum and delta becomes a step function, so a…

No fixed legs — a concept page about the day a contract expires Undefined

Expiry Day Neutral Approaches

Neutral

Expiry Day Neutral Approaches are neutral option structures placed near the settlement zone on expiry, where the theta collected is a fraction of a m…

No fixed legs — a concept page about neutral structures on expiry day Undefined

Expiry Day Volatility Concepts

Volatile

Expiry Day Volatility concepts describe how realised and implied volatility behave on the final day — measured intraday volatility often rising into …

No fixed legs — a concept page about volatility behaviour on expiry day Undefined

Theta Harvest Concepts

Neutral

Theta Harvest concepts describe collecting option time decay through short-premium positions, and the honest accounting behind it — theta is not inco…

No fixed legs — a concept page about collecting theta and what it costs Undefined

A–Z index

Educational content only — not investment advice. See our Risk Disclosure.