How to use this calculator
- Pick the direction: Put for a bearish-to-neutral condor (profit plateau below the price), Call for the bullish mirror.
- Enter the current share price, days to expiration and contract count.
- Set the anchor — the short strike of the credit spread, the one leg you actually choose. The other three strikes follow it automatically, keeping your widths.
- Adjust any individual strike by hand if you want different widths; your edit sticks and becomes the new width.
- Enter the net credit your broker quotes for all four legs (a negative number for a net debit).
- Read max profit on the plateau, max loss on the financing side, the breakeven(s), whether one side is truly risk-free, and the odds of finishing profitable.
How this calculator works
A condor is four strikes of one option type in a single expiration, ordered long — short — short — long. The two outer strikes are bought; the two inner strikes are sold. That pattern looks strange until you split it into two verticals, because the buy/sell order flips between them: in the credit spread you sell the higher strike and buy the lower, while in the debit spread you buy the higher and sell the lower. Both short legs land in the middle — which is exactly where the profit plateau sits.
For a put condor the lower pair is the credit spread and the upper pair is the debit spread, so the structure sits below the current price and profits if the stock drifts down into the plateau. A call condor mirrors it above the price. The credit you collect pays for the debit spread you buy — and if you make the credit spread wider than the debit spread, the premium collected can exceed the premium spent and the whole position opens for a net credit. That unequal-width version is a broken-wing condor; equal widths give the textbook condor, which normally costs a net debit and loses that debit in both tails.
The math is computed from the four legs directly, so it holds for any layout you enter — balanced or broken-winged, credit or debit. Max profit is the debit-spread width plus the net credit, flat between the two short strikes. Max loss is the credit-spread width minus the debit-spread width, minus the credit, beyond the outer financing strike. When the position is a genuine net credit, the far tail on the financing side finishes flat at that credit, so there is no risk there and only one breakeven; a net debit loses in both tails and shows two.
How the probability of profit is calculated
The probability of profit is the model-estimated chance the stock finishes inside the profitable price range at expiration. It uses the implied volatility you enter to build the lognormal distribution of where the stock might land — the same model behind the expected move, the Black-Scholes price and the probability calculator — then sums the probability over the prices where the trade makes money. It is a guide to the odds, not a promise: it assumes you hold to expiration and ignores volatility skew, early assignment and dividends.
Worked example
A fixed, hypothetical illustration — not live market data.
An index trades at $715. You open a bearish put condor: buy the $680 put, sell the $700 put, sell the $705 put and buy the $710 put for a $0.37 net credit. The credit spread ($680/$700) is $20 wide; the debit spread it finances ($705/$710) is only $5 wide.
- Max profit: ($5 + $0.37) × 100 = $537, anywhere between $700 and $705.
- Max loss: ($20 − $5 − $0.37) × 100 = $1,463 — below $680.
- Breakeven: $694.63. There is no upside breakeven — above $710 you simply keep the $37 credit.
- No-risk side: the upside, because this opened for a credit.
- Return on risk: $537 ÷ $1,463 = 36.7%.
Note the shape of that trade honestly: a high chance of a $537 win against a $1,463 loss when it goes wrong. The "no risk to the upside" headline is real, but the downside is nearly three times the maximum gain — which is the whole reason position size matters more here than the win rate does.
Common mistakes
- Reading a high win rate as low risk. A broken-wing condor wins often and small, and loses rarely and large. Judge it on the whole distribution, not the hit rate.
- Sizing against the credit instead of the max loss. The credit might be $37 while the defined risk is $1,463. Only the second number should drive your size.
- Assuming the "no-risk side" is free. It only exists if you genuinely opened for a net credit — widen the debit spread and that tail starts losing the debit instead.
- Auto-derived strikes are geometry, not a quote. The ladder makes a credit likely, but only your broker's fill decides whether you actually collected one.
- Ignoring four-leg costs. A condor opens four contracts; commissions and bid-ask spreads bite hard against a small net credit.
- Forgetting early assignment on American-style options. Two short legs sit in the middle; an in-the-money short near expiration can be assigned early. Cash-settled European index options avoid this.
Frequently asked questions
What is a put condor?
A put condor uses four put strikes in one expiration: you buy the lowest strike, sell the two middle strikes, and buy the highest. Read as two verticals, it is a put credit spread on the lower pair financing a put debit spread on the upper pair. Maximum profit is a flat plateau between the two short strikes, which sits below the current price — so it is a bearish-to-neutral trade. A call condor is the exact mirror, with the profit plateau above the current price.
Which strike is the highest in a condor?
The highest strike is a long (bought) option, and so is the lowest — the two outer strikes are always bought and the two inner strikes are always sold. It reads oddly because the buy/sell pattern flips between the two verticals: in the credit spread you sell the higher strike and buy the lower, while in the debit spread you buy the higher and sell the lower. Both short legs end up in the middle, which is where the maximum-profit plateau sits.
How does a credit spread finance a debit spread?
You collect premium from the credit spread and spend it on the debit spread. If you make the credit spread wider than the debit spread it pays for, the premium collected can exceed the premium spent and the whole four-leg structure opens for a net credit. That unequal-width version is a broken-wing condor. An equal-width condor is the textbook version and normally costs a net debit.
Does a condor really have no risk on one side?
Only when you actually open it for a net credit. If every option finishes worthless — above all four strikes for a put condor, below all four for a call condor — you simply keep the credit, so that tail cannot lose. If the structure opens for a net debit instead, that same tail loses the debit you paid. This calculator reports which case you are in from the net premium you enter, rather than assuming it.
What is the real risk in a broken-wing condor?
The wider financing spread carries it, and it is much larger than the credit. Max loss equals the credit-spread width minus the debit-spread width, minus the net credit, times 100 per contract. In the worked example below that is $1,463 of risk against $537 of maximum profit — a high win rate paired with a loss several times the size of a typical win. Size the position against that maximum loss, never against the credit.
Condor vs iron condor — what is the difference?
A condor uses four strikes of a single option type, all puts or all calls, and sits on one side of the market with its profit plateau above or below the current price. An iron condor combines a put credit spread below the price with a call credit spread above it, so its profit zone straddles the current price and it is market-neutral. Both are four-leg, defined-risk structures; use the Iron Condor Calculator for the two-sided version.
Related tools and guides
New to the structure? Start with What is a Condor Spread? For the two-sided, market-neutral version use the Iron Condor Calculator — and see Condor vs Iron Condor for when the two are the same trade and when they are not; for the three-strike cousin with the same financing trick, the Broken Wing Butterfly Calculator, or build any custom structure in the Payoff Diagram Builder.
Place the plateau with the Expected Move Calculator, check whether premium is rich with the IV Rank Calculator, read the odds in full with the Probability Calculator, and look up any term in the options glossary.
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The bottom line
A condor is a credit spread financing a debit spread - make the credit side wider and it opens for a credit with no risk on one side, but that wider side is exactly where the whole maximum loss lives.
Educational tool only. Nothing here is financial advice. A condor is defined-risk, but the financing side can reach its full loss, short legs on American-style options can be assigned early, and four-leg commissions and bid-ask spreads can be material against a small net credit. Size positions accordingly.