Build a same-expiration option scenario
Load a symbol, select an option-only preset and inspect every leg before interpreting the output. Templates choose the nearest available strikes to their dollar offsets. They are starting inputs, not recommendations or optimized trades. If the limited snapshot cannot supply distinct contracts in the required strike order, the template produces no result rather than inventing a zero-price leg.
- Load the cached snapshot and review its usable-record and pagination notice. The returned page can omit strikes, maturities or one side of the chain.
- Select a preset, then change action, type, strike, expiration and whole-contract quantity. Exact edits require an unambiguous available contract. Unsupported edits retain the prior leg and show a message.
- Keep all legs at one expiration and exercise style. Use one to four distinct contracts, with 1–100 contracts per leg. Covered stock and mixed-maturity templates do not produce calculations.
- Set a fee per contract per side. The calculation deducts it twice for each contract as a round-trip allowance, including on the expiration curve. This is a user assumption, not an exchange fee schedule.
Expiration risk is not the edge of a chart
Each long call contributes max(S − K, 0) minus its premium; a long put contributes max(K − S, 0) minus its premium. Selling reverses the sign. Quantities and a 100-share multiplier scale the result. The combined payoff changes slope only at strikes, so risk bounds are evaluated at zero, all strikes and the upper tail. The plotted range is just a viewing window.
For example, one long $100 put bought for $4 has a $9,600 maximum gain at stock price zero and a $400 maximum loss before fees. It does not have unlimited downside profit. One naked short call has an unbounded loss as stock price rises. These are expiration cash-flow bounds under the stated contract assumptions, not a forecast or an assignment simulation.
Breakevens solve the piecewise-linear payoff, including the upper tail. A flat interval at zero P&L is reported as an interval. The displayed risk/reward ratio is a bound comparison only; it says nothing about the likelihood of either endpoint. No probability of profit or broker margin requirement is calculated.
Separate snapshots from time-value models
Option premiums come from daily-close fields, which can have different observation times across legs. Snapshot responses may be cached for one hour and FMP underlying quotes for 30 seconds. A new load is not evidence of a new market quote. Only the first 250 returned records are processed; later pages are not followed. Standard 100-share size does not by itself prove an unadjusted deliverable.
Dashed lines use European Black-Scholes with each available leg IV, a fixed 5% continuously compounded interest rate, zero dividends and calendar days divided by 365. They show the initial model horizon and 50% or 75% of time elapsed. A 10-point IV shift turns 30% into 40%; it is not a relative 10% change. Missing or negative shifted IV suppresses time-value curves without manufacturing a default. The same-day expiration approximation uses intrinsic value and does not model intraday settlement.
Provider Greeks are shown with action, contract quantity and the 100-share multiplier applied. They remain snapshot sensitivities when IV settings change. Missing fields are N/A, including a net sensitivity when a leg is missing it. A scenario curve can differ from the imported daily-close premium even at the starting stock price because the data times and model assumptions differ.
Know which structures need a different model
A covered call includes owned stock; a short call alone is uncovered. A protective put and collar also need stock exposure. Calendar and diagonal spreads need different expirations and valuation of remaining long-option time value at the earlier horizon. This page explains those unavailable templates instead of treating them as single-expiration option-only trades.
Preset names do not certify a payoff. Jade-lizard upside protection depends on enough net credit to cover the call-spread width. A 2:1 call combination is not automatically a zero-extrinsic ZEBRA. Alternate ladder names and duplicate offset presets are not additional independent strategies. Inspect the selected legs and the calculated cash flows.
Costs beyond the entered fee, dividends, borrow costs, funding, liquidity, early exercise and assignment are excluded. These limits are material for American-style equity options. The tool does not place orders or prove profitability. References: OIC long-put payoff and OIC pricing-model limitations.