With the Dow and S&P 500 falling just off their all-time highs recently and yet refusing to move much lower at this point, it probably makes sense to keep at least a few bullish trade ideas in your trading stable.
The market is due for some type of bigger correction, but who knows when that will happen. Even if it does pullback sooner than later, there will be another bullish opportunity at some point rest assured. Traders often ask me is there a way that you can take advantage of this bullish investing scenario while limiting risk? Certainly, there are a few option strategies that can accomplish this goal. One that may be a better option compared to the rest is a debit call spread which is sometimes referred to as a bull call spread.
Definition
When implementing a bull call spread, an option trader purchases a call option at one strike and sells the same number of calls on the same stock at a higher strike with the same expiration date. Here is a trade idea we looked at in Group Coaching just about a month ago. In late August, Tesla Motors (TSLA) moved up to a resistance area right around $260, formed a bullish base and then closed above resistance at around $263. With implied volatility (IV) generally being low at the time, which is advantageous for purchasing options as with a bull call spread, and a directional bias, a bull call spread was considered.
The Math
The trader?s maximum profit in the bull call spread is limited; he can make as much as the difference between the strike prices less the net debit paid. For simplicity, let?s assume that at the time one September 265 call was purchased for 8.00 and one September 270 call was sold for 6.00 resulting in a net debit of $2 (8 ? 6). The difference in the strike prices is $5 (270 ? 265). He would subtract $2 from $5 to end up with a maximum profit of $3 per contract. So if he traded 10 contracts, he could make $3,000 (10 X 300).
Although he limited his upside, the trader also limited the downside to the net debit of $2 per contract. To simply breakeven, the stock would have to trade at $267 (the strike price of the purchased call (265) plus the net debit ($2)) at expiration.
Advantage Versus Purchasing a Call
When trading the long call, a trader?s downside is limited to the net premium paid. If he simply purchased the out-of-the-money September 265 call, he would have paid $8. The potential loss is, therefore, greater when implementing a call-buying strategy. If he had moved to a call with a longer time frame to expiration, he would have even paid more for the option. This would also increase his potential loss per option.
Conclusion
By implementing a bull call spread, traders can hedge their bets; limiting the potential loss. This is the advantage when comparing to purchasing a call outright. Remember that there are no sure-fire ways to make money by using options. However, knowing and understanding the strategy is a good way to limit losses.