Option Spreads Reduce Risk Even More

Do you see any pattern here? In each case, options are used to lower your out-of-pocket cost and thereby reduce your risk. But there is yet another step you can take with options to reduce your risk even further. It is a secret that option professionals have been using for decades but have only recently entered the mainstream. This potent tool is known as spreading.

Buying Stock on the Cheap

Here’s how it works using my favorite fictional stock XYZ Company. Let’s say you’re bullish on XYZ’s prospects, having determined that the stock is worth $155. With XYZ very high-priced at $130 a share, you don’t want to risk a large amount of your capital buying stock, so you decide to buy a call option that expires in January 2025 as a stock replacement.

Using Calls as a Stock Replacement is the First Step

One possibility would be to buy the $130 call, which currently costs $9.30 per share, or because one options contract equals 100 shares, $930 per contract. Buying 100 shares of XYZ stock would cost $13,000, which is quite a bit bigger capital commitment than the $930 needed to buy the equivalent options position, wouldn’t you say? At January expiration, break-even for the options position is $139.30 ($130 strike plus $9.30 option cost). If XYZ makes it up to the $155 target by then, the call option contract will be worth $2500, resulting in a profit of $1,570 or 169% ($1,570/$930).

In contrast, the buyer of 100 shares of XYZ stock at $130 would make a profit of $2,500 but only a 19% profit ($2,500/$13,000) because of the much higher capital commitment involved in buying the stock. The option buyer could easily surpass the stock buyer in dollar profit simply by purchasing two $130 call options instead of one. This would double the option cost to $1,860 but would still cost 85% less than buying the $13,000 worth of stock.

Converting Calls into Call Spreads is the Second Step

But in my world of maximum risk reduction, even 85% less is still too expensive, still too much risk. Consequently, I recommend selling the $135 call against the purchased $130 call, thus creating the 130/135 call spread to reduce the bullish position’s cost even further. Remember, since an option is a derivative contract, it can be sold without owning it first. The $135 call is trading at $6.90 per share ($690 per contract), so selling it against the $130 call would reduce your overall cost to $240 per contract ($930-$690), a 74% reduction from the original cost of $930 for the $130 call option alone.

Another advantage of selling a call to reduce cost is that you can often eliminate the “time value” surcharge on the long-term call option that you are long. In other words, you get all of the upside of stock ownership (up to the strike price of the sold call) at a fraction of the cost of stock and without suffering any time decay – the best of both worlds!

Sound Familiar?

If the mechanics of creating this call spread sound vaguely familiar, you do not imagine things. It’s very similar to the covered call strategy. The only difference in the spread is that you are selling the covered call against another long-term call rather than against stock. The risk reduction benefits are magnified many times over in the option spread situation since the sale proceeds of the call you are selling ($690) is much closer in value to the call you purchased ($930) than to the value of the 100 shares of stock you could have purchased ($13,000).

I’ll Sacrifice Huge But Unlikely Upside for Regional Leverage Any Day

As in the case of a covered call strategy, the “catch” limits your potential upside profit in the stock. In the case of the 130/135 call spread, your maximum profit at expiration occurs at $135; any further appreciation in XYZ’s stock price above $135 is collected by the purchaser of the $135 call you sold. But the cost reduction you enjoy by selling the $135 call is so great that the profit potential remaining is tremendous:

$130/$135 Call Spread on XYZ: Profit/Loss at January 2025 Expiration

As the table shows, the call spread is the superior investment at all price levels under $149.34 on a percentage profit basis and under $141.90 on a dollar profit basis. What’s so impressive about the spread’s profit outperformance is that it occurs while reducing risk at the same time! Between XYZ’s current price of $130 and $141.90 (9.2% higher), the spread makes more money on a dollar basis than the individual call and yet requires 74% less capital commitment.

Because the outperformance of spreads is limited to cases where the stock rises only modestly, option traders often characterize spreads as possessing “regional leverage.” Within the modest price appreciation region, the spread can’t be beaten, but individual calls will outperform in cases where the stock makes a huge price move. But isn’t it better to bet on modest price moves than huge price moves? You betcha.

I especially like the comparison at the $135 stock price. The spread more than doubles your money while the individual call loses 46%! Amazing. The stock only has to increase by 3.8% for the spread to gain 108%. Now that’s what I call leverage! Financial theory always teaches us that to get more rewards; you need to take more risks. This option spread illustration belies that notion; you can have your cake and eat it too!

Maybe Worth a Try

If you are very bullish on a stock, buy an individual call option. However, if you are only moderately bullish on a stock and think it will go up some but not a lot, buy a call spread. Substantially reducing your out-of-pocket cost — while at the same time substantially increasing your profit potential — makes a lot of sense.