Long Strangle Calculator
A long strangle buys an out-of-the-money call and put, costing less than a straddle but needing a bigger move. Breakevens sit outside both strikes by the combined premium. Enter both legs to see the move you need.
The arithmetic
The default buys the $105 call and $95 put for $2.20 each — $4.40 total, $440 per strangle.
- Max loss = $440, anywhere between $95 and $105 at expiration. Note the flat bottom: unlike a straddle, a strangle loses its full cost across a whole band, not at one point.
- Breakevens = $90.60 and $109.40.
- Required move = 9.4% in either direction.
- Max profit = unlimited above; large but bounded below.
Cheaper is not the same as better
The strangle costs $440 against the straddle's $700, which reads as the sensible economy — until you compare the required moves. The straddle needs 7%; this needs 9.4%. You saved 37% of the cost and made the trade meaningfully harder to win.
Which is correct depends on the shape of the move you expect, not the price of the position. A strangle suits a genuine expectation of a violent move — a binary event, a broken range — where 9.4% is comfortably inside the plausible outcome. For an ordinary "this could go either way", the wider breakevens usually mean both legs expire worthless.
The flat bottom is the real risk
On a straddle, only one exact price costs you everything. On a strangle, the entire band between the strikes does. Widen the strikes on this page and watch that dead zone grow. Cheap far-out-of-the-money strangles look like lottery tickets with good odds; the flat bottom is why they usually are not.
Volatility, again
As with any long-premium position, buying a strangle before a scheduled event means buying inflated implied volatility. The move can arrive and the position can still lose, because the volatility component repriced downward at the same time. Expiration charts never show this.
Where the 100x multiplier comes from
Product specification, not convention: OCC defines a standard equity option as covering 100 shares, premium quoted in points where one point is $100[1] — so a $1.85 premium costs $185, and every payoff here applies that multiplier to the leg structure.
One exception is worth knowing about: adjusted contracts, covered on the options profit calculator.
Calculating it is the easy half
Two premiums, two breakevens. The payoff is arithmetic — anyone can run it. What it cannot show is whether you believed the trade when you put it on, or are describing a winner picked out of a month of noise.
That is the gap kappi closes: the position committed before the fact, sealed and timestamped on a log nobody can edit afterwards. A screenshot of this chart proves you can use a calculator; a sealed commit proves you took the trade. $15/month, no free tier.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
What are the breakevens on a long strangle?
The call strike plus the combined premium, and the put strike minus it. A $95/$105 strangle costing $4.40 breaks even at $90.60 and $109.40.
Is a strangle cheaper than a straddle?
Yes, because both legs are out of the money — but it needs a larger move to profit. Compare the required percentage move, not just the cost.
What happens if the stock finishes between the strikes?
Both options expire worthless and you lose the entire premium. Unlike a straddle, that outcome covers a whole band of prices rather than a single point.
When should I prefer a strangle?
When you expect a genuinely large move — a binary event or a range break — so the wider breakevens are still comfortably inside the plausible outcome.