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Monday, November 17, 2008

Bullish Strategies - CALL BACKSPREAD / CALL RATIO SPREAD


Similar to a Long Straddle except the loss on the downside is limited.

When to use: 

When you are bullish on volatility and bullish on market price. Note though, that you profit when prices fall, although the gains are greater if the market rallies.



A Backspread looks a lot like a Long Straddle except the payoff flattens out on the downside. The other key difference is that Backspreads are usually done at a credit. That is, the net difference for both legs means that you receive money into your account up front instead of paying (debit) for the spread. One may expreiment with 1:3 ratio too, if it offers better risk:reward ratio

Even though the payoff looks like a "long" type position, it is often referred to as a "short" strategy. Generally it is like this: if you receive money for the position up front it is called a "Short" position and when you pay for a position it is called being "Long".

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