Strangle Calculator

Calculate premium, break-evens and the profit range for a long or short strangle with separate call and put strikes.

A strangle is the same position on movement as a straddle with the strikes pulled apart: the call above the market, the put below it, both out of the money at the moment the position is opened. This strangle calculator prices the pair as it is bought or written, and like a straddle the structure responds to the size of a move rather than its direction.

Formula: break-evens = call strike + premium, put strike - premium

Your figures

Currency

Position

Call strike

The upper strike. It must sit above the put strike.

Put strike

The lower strike. It must sit below the call strike.

Call premium per share

As quoted, per share rather than per contract.

Put premium per share

As quoted, per share rather than per contract.

Number of contracts

One contract means one call and one put.

Shares per contract

From your own contract specification. 100 on standard US equity options.

Underlying price

Optional. The move required is measured against this price, and the position is valued at it.

Commission per contract

Charged on entry and exit for each leg, so four times per contract.

Results

Move required beyond a strike

4.00%

US$4.00 past whichever strike the move heads for, against the underlying price of US$100.00

Upper break-evenAbove this the call leg has covered both premiums and the commission.: US$109.00
Lower break-evenBelow this the put leg has covered both premiums and the commission.: US$91.00
Move required, in pointsMeasured from whichever strike the move heads for. The percentage above is this distance divided by the underlying price.: US$4.00
Premium per share, both legsCall plus put. This is the quote to hold against the expected move over the same number of days.: US$4.00
Total premium paidAcross every contract, after commission.: US$400.00
Shares controlledContracts multiplied by the shares each contract controls.: 100
Maximum profitThe call leg has no ceiling, so nothing bounds the upside.: Unlimited
Maximum lossThe whole outlay, lost only if the underlying finishes between the two strikes, where both legs expire worthless.: US$400.00
Result at the price enteredAt expiry, if the underlying finished exactly there.: -US$400.00
Intrinsic value there, per shareBoth legs combined. Only one of them can be in the money at once.: US$0.00
Gap between the strikesAlso the width of the band where both legs expire worthless and the whole outlay is lost.: US$10.00
Width between the break-evensThe strike gap plus the move required at each end. Inside it the position is behind.: US$18.00

What this means

Buying 1 strangle with the call at US$105.00 and the put at US$95.00 costs US$4.00 per share, US$400.00 in total after commission. Separating the strikes by US$10.00 makes the premium smaller than a straddle's and pushes both break-evens further out, to US$109.00 and US$91.00 — US$4.00, or 4.00% of the underlying price, past whichever strike the move heads for. Anywhere between the strikes both legs expire worthless and the whole US$400.00 is lost.

Values both legs at expiry only. Before expiry each leg still carries time value, so closing the position early gives a different result.
Commission is charged as four fills: two legs, each opened and closed. Held to expiry one leg usually expires worthless and costs nothing to close, so this overstates the cost rather than understating it.
Assumes both legs share the same expiry and the same underlying, and that neither is assigned early. American options can be assigned before expiry, which matters most to a short position.
The move required is a distance, not a probability. The expected move calculator turns an implied volatility into the range the chain is pricing over the same number of days, which is what that distance is normally measured against.

The link reopens this calculator with the same numbers. Nothing you enter is sent to a server.

Continue with these figures

About the Strangle calculation

Separating the strikes changes the economics in both directions at once. Two out-of-the-money options cost less than two at-the-money ones, so a buyer pays a smaller premium and a writer collects a smaller credit. In exchange a flat band opens between the strikes where neither leg has any intrinsic value: the entire outlay is lost there if the position is long, and the entire credit is kept there if it is short.

That band is the whole reason the structure exists. A short strangle can be wrong about direction, and wrong by a fair margin, and still finish with both legs worthless — which is what is being bought with the smaller credit. A long strangle accepts the opposite bargain: a lower entry cost in return for needing a larger move before either leg starts to pay.

Used as a long strangle calculator it prices one side of that trade-off, and as a short strangle calculator the other, from the same inputs either way. It reports the premium, both break-evens, the gap between the strikes, the width of the band between the break-evens and the distance the underlying must travel past whichever strike it heads for. Strikes, premiums, contract multiplier and commission are all yours to enter.

Strangle formula

premium per share = call premium + put premium
shares controlled = contracts × shares per contract
commission        = rate per contract × contracts × 2 legs × 2 fills

long  distance = premium per share + commission per share
short distance = premium per share − commission per share

upper break-even = call strike + distance
lower break-even = put strike  − distance

strike gap       = call strike − put strike
break-even width = strike gap + 2 × distance

intrinsic per share at expiry:
  max(price − call strike, 0) + max(put strike − price, 0)

long : max loss   = total premium + commission,  max profit unlimited
short: max profit = total premium − commission,  max loss   unlimited

distance: How far beyond a strike the underlying must finish before the position is level. Measured from whichever strike the move heads for.
strike gap: Call strike − put strike. Also the width of the band in which both legs expire worthless.
break-even width: Distance between the two break-evens: the strike gap plus the move required at each end.
guts strangle: A strangle with the strikes crossed, so both legs open in the money. A different payoff, and not covered here.

Each break-even is measured from its own strike, which is the one structural difference from a straddle. The call leg only starts to earn above the call strike, so it repays the combined premium at the call strike plus the distance; the put leg only starts to earn below the put strike, so it repays at the put strike minus the same distance. The pair of break-evens is therefore symmetric about the midpoint of the strikes rather than about the current price, and that midpoint is what the move-required percentage is measured against when no underlying price is entered.

The gap between the strikes does double duty, and it is worth seeing both readings at once. It is the distance between the two legs, and it is also the width of the region in which neither leg has any intrinsic value. For a long strangle that region is the flat floor of the payoff, where the loss is the whole outlay and does not vary with price; for a short strangle it is the flat plateau, where the profit is the whole credit and equally does not vary. One number, two descriptions, so the calculator reports it once rather than inviting a reader to look for a difference that is not there.

Widening the strikes buys a wider band and pays for it with a smaller premium, and the two effects are not independent. Pulling the strikes further apart takes both legs further out of the money, so each is worth less; the credit a writer collects falls at the same time as the band they are protected in grows. The break-even width captures the net effect, since it adds the strike gap to the move required at each end — it grows as the strikes widen, but by less than the strikes themselves move apart.

Crossed strikes are rejected rather than quietly priced. If the call strike sits below the put strike, both legs open in the money and the premium is dominated by intrinsic value rather than by volatility. The position is a guts strangle, it behaves differently, and treating it with this arithmetic would produce a plausible-looking answer to the wrong question. Bringing the two strikes together is refused too, for the same reason in reverse: that position is a straddle, and it has its own calculator.

Commission enters exactly as it does on any two-leg position — four fills, converted to a per-share figure so it can sit alongside the premium. On a short strangle where the strikes are wide and the credit is small, that cost is proportionally largest, and it is possible for the four fills to consume the whole credit. The calculation stops and says so rather than reporting break-evens that have crossed through each other.

Strangle: a worked example

Writing one strangle with the call at 105 and the put at 95, for premiums of 2.20 and 1.80, on a 100-share contract with commission of 0.50 per contract and the underlying at 100.

Premium per share2.20 + 1.80 = 4.00
Credit before costs4.00 × 100 = 400.00
Commission0.50 × 1 contract × 2 legs × 2 fills = 2.00
Commission per share2.00 ÷ 100 = 0.02
Distance beyond a strike4.00 − 0.02 = 3.98
Upper break-even105 + 3.98 = 108.98
Lower break-even95 − 3.98 = 91.02
Strike gap105 − 95 = 10.00
Break-even width108.98 − 91.02 = 17.96
Maximum profit400.00 − 2.00 = 398.00

398.00 is kept in full anywhere between 95 and 105, where both legs expire worthless, and the position is still ahead anywhere inside 91.02 to 108.98 — a window 17.96 points wide. The move required past a strike is only 3.98, under 4% of the price it was written against, and beyond the break-evens the loss grows point for point with nothing bounding it above 108.98.

How to use the Strangle calculator

Choose long to buy both legs or short to write them, then enter the call strike above the put strike. Crossed strikes are a different structure and are refused rather than mispriced.
Enter each premium per share as quoted. Out-of-the-money legs are usually the cheaper ones, which is what makes a strangle's premium smaller than a straddle's on the same underlying.
Enter the number of contracts and the shares each covers. One contract means one call and one put, so the two legs always move together in this calculator.
Enter your own commission per contract. It is charged four times, and on a wide short strangle with a thin credit that cost is a larger share of the position than it looks.
Enter the underlying price to measure the move required against where the market actually stands rather than against the midpoint of the strikes.
Read the strike gap and the break-even width together. The first is where the payoff is flat; the second is the full range in which a short position is still ahead, or a long one still behind.

Limitations of the Strangle calculator

Every calculation makes assumptions. These are the ones that matter here.

Values both legs at expiry only. Each leg carries time value until then, so a strangle closed early realises something other than the expiry payoff shown here.
Commission assumes four fills. Carried to expiry, out-of-the-money legs are usually left to expire rather than closed, so the modelled cost is the higher one.
Assumes neither leg is assigned before expiry. American-style options can be assigned at any point once in the money, which is a risk carried entirely by the writer.
Excludes margin. A short strangle is uncovered on both sides and the requirement is set by the broker, not by the payoff — it is frequently far larger than the credit received.
The band between the strikes is a description of the payoff, not a probability. How likely the underlying is to finish inside it depends on the volatility being priced, which this calculator does not take as an input.
Assumes one call and one put with the same expiry and underlying. Ratio positions, different expiries and crossed strikes all produce shapes this arithmetic does not describe.
Ignores changes in implied volatility, which move the value of both legs together and can dominate the result on any position closed before expiry.
Reports the lower break-even as unreachable when it falls at or below zero. The arithmetic is right, but no price the market can print is that low, so the downside leg cannot repay the position.

Frequently asked questions about Strangle

How does a strangle differ from a straddle in practice?

The strangle costs less to open and needs a larger move to pay. Its two legs start out of the money, so the premium is smaller, but each break-even is pushed out from a strike that is already away from the market. It also has a flat band between the strikes, which a straddle — with only one strike — does not.

Why must the call strike sit above the put strike?

Because crossing them makes a different position. With the call below the put, both legs open in the money, the premium is mostly intrinsic value rather than a payment for movement, and the payoff has a different shape. That structure is known as a guts strangle and it is refused here rather than priced with the wrong formula.

Does an options strangle profit if the underlying finishes between the strikes?

A short one does and a long one does not, because both legs expire worthless there. For a long strangle that is the maximum loss — the whole premium plus commission, and identical at every price in that band. For a short strangle it is the maximum profit, the entire credit kept, again identical anywhere between the two strikes.

Is a short strangle less risky than a short straddle?

It has a wider band in which nothing goes wrong and collects a smaller credit for it, so the profile is different rather than uniformly better. The loss above the call strike is unbounded on both structures, and a large enough move produces a loss that has no relationship to the credit received in either case.

Why is the width between the break-evens reported separately?

Because a strangle break-even calculator that stopped at the two prices would leave the reader to subtract them, and the span is the figure that describes the whole range rather than one end of it. For a short strangle it is the span the underlying may finish anywhere inside and still leave the position ahead; for a long one it is the span that loses money. It equals the strike gap plus the move required at each end.

Can I write more calls than puts here?

No. One contract count applies to both legs, so the position is always balanced. A ratio strangle carries directional exposure and a different maximum loss on the heavier side, which means it is not the same payoff and would give a misleading answer from this arithmetic.

Last reviewed 29 August 2026. See our methodology and editorial policy.

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