# What Is a Condor Spread? Setup and Payoff Source: https://theoptionsbench.com/what-is-a-condor-spread/ > Plain-text mirror for AI/LLM ingestion. Canonical HTML page: https://theoptionsbench.com/what-is-a-condor-spread/ --- Updated 3 September 2026 · by Theo Chen A Condor Spread is a **credit spread financing a debit spread**, built from four strikes of the same option type. Buy the outer two, sell the inner two, and the maximum profit isn't a single peak - it's a flat **plateau** between the two strikes you sold. Want the numbers for your own Condor - balanced or broken-wing, Put or Call? Enter the four strikes and your net premium for max profit, max loss, the breakeven(s), and whether one side is genuinely risk-free. Open the Condor Spread Calculator -> ## How is a Condor Spread built? Four strikes, one option type, one expiration, ordered **long - short - short - long**. The buy/sell pattern flips between the two verticals hiding inside it: in the **credit spread** (the two lower strikes on a Put Condor) you sell the higher strike and buy the lower; in the **debit spread** (the two upper strikes) you buy the higher and sell the lower. Both short legs land in the middle - exactly where the profit plateau sits. A **Put Condor** puts the credit spread below the price and the debit spread above it, so it sits below the market. A **Call Condor** mirrors it above the price. Widen the credit spread relative to the debit spread and the premium collected can exceed the premium spent - the whole position then opens for a **net credit**. That unequal-width version is the **broken-wing Condor**. ## The payoff: a plateau, not a peak - Max profit = the debit-spread width plus the net credit, flat between the two short strikes. - Max loss = the credit-spread width minus the debit-spread width, minus the credit, beyond the outer financing strike. - No-risk side = only when opened for a genuine net credit - that far tail on the financing side finishes flat at the credit, since every option there expires worthless. ## A worked example 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. Broken-wing Put Condor at expiration Buy the $680 Put, sell the $700 Put, sell the $705 Put, buy the $710 Put for a $0.37 net credit. Max profit $537 between $700 and $705; max loss $1,463 below $680; above $710 the $37 credit is simply kept. ## Condor vs Iron Condor On the same four strikes a Condor and an Iron Condor are the same trade - identical max profit, max loss and breakevens. The Iron Condor just reaches that payoff with every leg out of the money, which means cheaper fills, tighter quotes and less early-assignment risk than the centred Condor's two in-the-money legs. That's why the Condor's natural home is broken-winged and pushed to one side of the market - a shape the Iron Condor can't produce. See Condor vs Iron Condor for the full comparison. Read the plateau honestly A broken-wing Condor wins often and small, and loses rarely and large. The "no risk to one side" headline is real, but the wider financing side is exactly where the maximum loss lives - in the worked example above, $1,463 of risk against $537 of maximum profit. Size the position against the max loss, never against the credit that lands in your account on day one. The bottom line A condor spread is four strikes of one option type, read as a credit spread financing a debit spread - widen the credit side and the whole thing can open for a net credit with one entire tail carrying no risk, but that wider financing side is exactly where the whole maximum loss lives. ## Frequently asked questions What is a Condor Spread in simple terms? A Condor Spread uses four strikes of one option type, all Puts or all Calls, in a single expiration: buy the lowest, sell the two middle strikes, and buy the highest. Read as two verticals, it is a credit spread financing a debit spread - you collect premium from the inner spread and spend it on the outer one. Maximum profit is a flat plateau between the two short strikes, not a single peak. What is the difference between a Condor and an Iron Condor? A Condor uses four strikes of a single option type - all Puts or all Calls - so it sits to one side of the current price and normally opens for a debit. An Iron Condor mixes a Put credit spread below the price with a Call credit spread above it, straddling the price and opening for a credit. On the same four strikes the payoff is identical; the Iron Condor just gets there with every leg out of the money, which is why it is the version almost everyone actually trades. Why does a broken-wing Condor open for a credit? Because the two verticals are given different widths. Make the credit spread wider than the debit spread it finances, and the premium you collect on the wide side can exceed the premium you pay on the narrow side - the whole four-leg structure then opens for a net credit instead of a debit. That skewed version is the broken-wing Condor; equal widths give the textbook Condor, which normally costs a debit. What is the max loss on a Condor Spread? The credit-spread width minus the debit-spread width, minus any net credit collected, times 100 per contract - and it sits on the wider, financing side of the trade. It is usually far larger than the maximum profit: a high win rate paired with an occasional loss several times the size of a typical win. Size the position against this number, never against the credit that shows up in your account on day one. Is a Condor Spread bullish or bearish? Centred on the current price it is neutral, the same as an Iron Condor. Push it to one side - the way a broken-wing Condor usually is - and it takes on a lean: a Put Condor with its plateau below the price is bearish-to-neutral, a Call Condor with its plateau above the price is the bullish mirror. ## Related questions - What is an iron condor, the version everyone actually trades? - Condor vs iron condor - when are they actually different? - What is a broken wing butterfly, the three-strike cousin? - What is a bull put spread, one half of the condor?