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Calendar spread

  A tent-shaped payoff around a single strike is actually the signature of a calendar spread too, and given only one strike (716C) is shown with a single date tag (8/31), that's the better read: this is a long calendar call spread (a.k.a. horizontal or time spread), not a butterfly. Let me correct the explanation. What a Calendar Call Spread Actually Is Unlike a butterfly (three strikes, same expiration), a calendar spread uses one strike, two different expirations : Sell 1 call at the $716 strike, expiring near-term (8/31 — the date shown on your chart) Buy 1 call at the same $716 strike, expiring later (a future date, not shown on this snapshot) You collect premium from the short-dated call you sell and pay more for the longer-dated call you buy (since it has more time value), so the position costs you a net debit — your $100.50 . Why the Payoff Still Looks Like a Tent The chart you're looking at shows the position's value at the near-term expiration (8/31) — t...

What Is Implied Volatility? (Explained Like You're 5)

  Step 1: Imagine a Weather Guesser Picture two towns. In Town A , the weather is almost always the same: sunny, 75 degrees, every single day. Nobody worries about the forecast because tomorrow will probably look just like today. In Town B , the weather goes wild. One day it's sunny, the next it's a thunderstorm, then it snows, then it's sunny again. Nobody really knows what's coming. If you had to guess how big tomorrow's weather swing might be in each town, you'd guess a small swing for Town A and a big swing for Town B. Implied volatility (IV) is that same kind of guess — but for a stock's price, not the weather. Step 2: Stocks Have "Calm" Days and "Wild" Days Too Look at the picture you shared. It's a table of stocks, and one whole section is labeled "Volatility." Some stocks are like Town A — calm and boring: EWC (iShares MSCI Canada ETF) has a Current IV30 of just 12.8 . That's a low number, meaning ...

The Broken Wing Butterfly: A Deep Dive for Beginners

You've seen this one already in disguise — it's the shape from those two real MDB charts earlier. Now let's slow down and go through it properly: what it is, why traders like it, several full examples, and how to actually put one on. step1   point for max profit step2 step3 step4 result 1. What Makes It "Broken" A regular butterfly has two equal-width "wings" — the distance between the lower strike and the middle strike is the same as the distance between the middle strike and the upper strike. That symmetry means you take on roughly equal risk if the stock crashes or if it rallies. A broken wing butterfly (BWB) breaks that symmetry on purpose. You make one wing wider than the other. The result: No risk (or much smaller risk) on the wide-wing side All the risk concentrated on the narrow-wing side Often built for a much smaller cost than a regular butterfly — sometimes even a net credit (meaning you get paid to put the trade on) You're es...