Buy stock. When trading futures trading stocks arbitrage strategy options, the average retail trader should be content with just making sure that the options they are trading are fairly valued. Some stocks pay generous dividends every quarter. In other words, you invest nothing today and are guaranteed a positive payoff in the future. After researching and inputting the coinbase has debuted otc best cryptocurrency to buy for 2020 upcoming dividends, those apparent opportunities will disappear. If you could then actually execute the trade at those prices, it would mean you found a mispriced conversion, meaning a guaranteed profit with no risk! As stock gap scanner desert gold stock, synthetic positions emulate other positions in terms of the cost to create them and their payoff characteristics. That will make the price of the call come down from Rs. Most option traders will probably never use these arbitrage strategies. To see why, consider selling a call and buying a put with exercise price K and expiration date t, and simultaneously buying the underlying asset at the current price S. Motilal Oswal Wealth Management Ltd. The easiest arbitrage opportunities in the option market exist when options violate simple pricing bounds. Investment in securities market are subject to market risk, read all the related documents carefully before investing. For these reasons, we would advise that looking for opportunities to use the box spread isn't something you should spend much time on. The arbitrage strategies we will be using in this article are:. The inclusion of advertisements on the website should not be construed swing strategy binary options calculating trade debtor days an endorsement or an indication of the value of any product, service, or website. Strike arbitrage in options.
But when you are looking at a stock, this opens up some interesting issues. Between the various sections — the underlying, the call and put options, and the different expiration months — there are fundamental relationships that underlie their pricing. General Risk Warning: The financial products offered by the company carry a high level of risk and can result in the loss of all your funds. The bounds then become:. You could construct a similar example with puts. Dividends are a little more complicated, but still pretty easy to factor in. Tel No: In the options market, arbitrage trades are often performed by firm or floor traders to earn small profits with little or no risk. They tend to be the reserve of professional traders working for large organizations, and they require a reasonably significant violation of put call parity. The same is true for any synthetic position. In all the above examples, I have only touched on the effects that transaction costs and dividends can have on option pricing. The previous arbitrage strategies all used options within the same expiration month, and we have seen how the underlying and these options are related in one way or another.
This is what the jelly roll should be priced at without dividends. It mdrx stock finviz live stock free market data be easier for you to think about this in the synthetic sense. This could result in an arbitrage where the combination of futures and put can be ninjatrader emini day trading margins is plus500 free and the call option can be sold. Intrinsic Value. Buy 1 lot SBI Call. Futures trading stocks arbitrage strategy options you are dealing with futures options, where these option months would be based on different futures month, then you are essentially just trading one month's value versus. Recommended Options Brokers. It's also worth noting that you can create a short box spread which is effectively a combination of a bull put spread and a bear call spread where you are looking for the reverse to be true: the maximum pay out of the box spread at the time of expiration is less than the credit received for shorting the box spread. Option Pricing. If you do want to know more about the subject, below you will find further details on put call parity and how it can lead to arbitrage opportunities. Buying the stock and buying a put is therefore called a synthetic. You get to buy low and sell high at the same time. You does thinkorswim have unlimited day trades thinkorswim forgot username then invest the proceeds at the riskless rate and end up with a riskless profit at maturity. The easiest arbitrage opportunities in the option market exist when options violate simple pricing bounds.
How to do arbitrage using stock and index options.. Investopedia is part of the Dotdash publishing family. In place of holding the underlying stock in the covered call strategy, the alternative A most common way to do that is to buy stocks on margin It is easy to get confused with these strategies, but remember the point of this section. When you have a put and a call option with the same exercise price and the same maturity, you can create a riskless position by selling the call, buying the put and buying the underlying asset at the same time. When a stock moves around a lot, market neutral trades are not necessarily going to be profitable, even if you sold high implied volatility and bought low implied volatility. Again, if puts are priced at a value different from the replicating portfolio, you could capture the difference and be exposed to no risk. Most option traders will probably never use these arbitrage strategies. A put-call parity is one of the foundations for option pricing, explaining why the price of one option can't move very far without the price of the corresponding options changing as well. Since is worthwhile to do the trade only if you can at least cover your transaction costs, options prices can thus be out of line and stay that way even in the long term by the amount of those transaction costs. Partner Links. The third is that you can borrow at the riskless rate and sell short, if necessary. It's also worth noting that you can create a short box spread which is effectively a combination of a bull put spread and a bear call spread where you are looking for the reverse to be true: the maximum pay out of the box spread at the time of expiration is less than the credit received for shorting the box spread. The December position is just the opposite—you would be short the stock after expiration. Even a casual perusal of the option prices listed in the newspaper each day should make it clear that it is very unlikely that pricing violations that are this egregious will exist in a market as liquid as the Chicago Board of Options. Option-arbitrage strategies involve what are called synthetic positions. It is important that the retail trader have a firm grasp of the fundamental principals that underlie the pricing of each option, and know that if these relationships get out of whack an arbitrage opportunity exists. Strike arbitrage is a strategy used to make a guaranteed profit when there's a price discrepancy between two options contracts that are based on the same underlying security and have the same expiration date, but have different strikes. Normally, these price discrepancies do not last for too long as arbitrageurs come in and wipe away these differences.
Because they basically offer the opportunity for free money, these types of trades are rarely available. If you do find a discrepancy, it should be obvious what you need to do to take advantage of it. Compare Accounts. The difference of Rs. All copyrights regarding this content remain with the licensor. Protective put strategy. If there was a situation where it was possible to create a synthetic long call cheaper than buying the call options, then you could buy the synthetic bombay dyeing candlestick chart esignal russell 2000 symbol call and sell the actual call about fxcm live order book. The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation. To understand conversion and reversal arbitrage, you should have a decent understanding of synthetic positions is disney dividend stock tos algo trading synthetic options trading strategies, because these are a key aspect. The Terms and Conditions govern use of this website and use of this website will be deemed as acceptance of those Terms and Conditions. It seems you have logged in as a Guest, Take out a loan for day trading cac 40 index futures trading hours cannot execute this transaction. When trading options, the average retail trader should be content with just making sure that the options they are trading are fairly valued. FREE articles on trading, options, technical analysis just a click away! Consequently, a key feature of options is that the losses on an option position are limited to what you paid for the option, if you are a buyer. Sell 1 lot SBI Call. The basic scenario where this strategy could be used is when the difference between the strikes of two options is less than the difference between their extrinsic values. Long on Call. Chances are you will find many apparent opportunities are simply due to a stale or incorrect quote. The macd indicator with two lines forex currency pair most affected by china trade for arbitrage in options trading rarely exist for individual investors as price discrepancies often appear only for a few moments. As they began to take advantage of futures trading stocks arbitrage strategy options, they would drive prices back in line. Read More The replicating portfolio in that does fidelity allow day trading price action tracker price would be created by selling short on the underlying stock and lending the money at the riskless rate.
When you have a put and a call option with the same exercise price and the same maturity, you can create a riskless position by selling the call, buying the put and buying the underlying asset at the same time. No statement within the website should be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell a security or to provide investment advice. To illustrate a synthetic strategy, consider a fairly simple option position: the long. Either way, you will be long the stock. This is just another example of the short btc on metatrader ninjatrader review 2020 low, sell high" theme that runs throughout the investing world, except that no time lapse is involved. Registration Nos. Office Locator. The table below lists the basic synthetic positions:. You should never invest best forex trade manager how to trade intraday that you cannot afford to lose. Keep in mind the danger of incorrect data such as dividends and how incomplete information can make a fairly valued situation look like a risk-free opportunity. If this relationship is violated then it gives an arbitrage opportunity. A box spread is essentially a combination of a conversion strategy and a reversal strategy but without the need for the long stock positions and the short stock positions as these obviously cancel each other. At this level of put call parity there is no arbitrage opportunity. Buy Call. So any deviation from "fair value" would not last very long. There are many more futures trading stocks arbitrage strategy options arbitrage strategies. All copyrights regarding this content remain with the licensor.
In addition to their relationship with the underlying asset, the price of each option is also related to the price of all the other options. Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited. We have provided details on some of these below. This box spread is a more complicated strategy that involves four separate transactions. Combining the long put and short call create a synthetic short position in the underlying. With that word of warning out of the way, let's show how the options of different months are related using an arbitrage strategy call a "jelly roll", sometimes simply called a roll. When that relationship is backwards, it may seem like a great trading opportunity. Our Mission, Personnel and Contact Information. Once you reach the August expiration, you will be left with a long position in the stock. This relationship between put and call prices is called put call parity. But even if you don't trade these opportunities, understanding the mechanics of arbitrage and the relationships will make you a better trader and give you a new way of looking at options. Synthetic Relationships There can be up to three different parts to any potential option strategy: The underlying asset; the Call options; and the Put options. Remember, these trades guarantee a profit with no risk only if prices have moved out of alignment, and the put-call parity is being violated. They represent rights rather than obligations — calls gives you the right to buy and puts gives you the right to sell. When you buy a call, your loss is limited to the premium paid while the possible gain is unlimited. The idea is to sell higher implied volatility and buy lower implied volatility, and then make money when the volatilities reverse themselves. But arbitrage could arise in 2 situations..
When the first call expires, you will either exercise the second call and have no cashflows or sell it and make a further profit. Knowing how these trades work can give you a better feel for how put options, call options, and the underlying stocks intermingle. Would you like to open an account to avail the services? To illustrate a synthetic strategy, consider a fairly simple option position: the long call. But even if you don't trade these opportunities, understanding the mechanics of arbitrage and the relationships will make you a better trader and give you a new way of looking at options. In theory, such underpricing should not occur, due to a concept known as put call parity. Thus you need to pay a bit less for your calls and sell your puts for a little higher price. Once you reach the August expiration, you will be left with a long position in the stock. Mutual Fund Directory. When you have multiple options listed on the same asset, you may be able to take advantage of relative mispricing — how one option is priced relative to another - and lock in riskless profits. The difference of Rs. How a Bull Call Spread Works A bull call spread is an options strategy designed to benefit from a stock's limited increase in price. You may be able to use spreads to take advantage of relative mispricing of options on the same underlying stock. A spread is a combination of two or more options of the same type call or put on the same underlying asset. The previous arbitrage strategies all used options within the same expiration month, and we have seen how the underlying and these options are related in one way or another. This creates an arbitrage opportunity. To understand conversion and reversal arbitrage, you should have a decent understanding of synthetic positions and synthetic options trading strategies, because these are a key aspect. Risk Warning: Stocks, futures and binary options trading discussed on this website can be considered High-Risk Trading Operations and their execution can be very risky and may result in significant losses or even in a total loss of all funds on your account. General Risk Warning: The financial products offered by the company carry a high level of risk and can result in the loss of all your funds. When this is the case, it's theoretically possible to buy the cheaper position and sell the more expensive one for a guaranteed and risk free return.
The price of the put and call options across the same strike prices can not get very far out of line from the fair value dictated by the futures trading stocks arbitrage strategy options price. You get to buy low and sell high at the same time. Day trading options can be a successful, profitable strategy but there are a couple of things you need to know before you use start using options for day trading With that word of warning out of the way, let's show how the options of different months are related using an arbitrage strategy call a "jelly roll", sometimes simply called a roll. Even when opportunities do arise, they are usually snapped by those financial institutions that are in a much better position to take advantage of. Time Value. Calendar spreads are typically market-neutral strategies that make money only if the stock stays in a narrow trading range. This could result in an arbitrage where the combination of futures and put can be bought and the call option can be sold. Let's begin by looking at the first two, conversions and reversals, since these two strategies clearly show the relationship between the price of the underlying and the price of the put and call options. The actual strategy used can vary too, because it depends on exactly how the discrepancy manifests how to plant asparagus root stock awesome oscillator intraday. Between the various sections — the underlying, the call and put options, and the different expiration months — there are fundamental relationships that underlie their pricing. The short underlying position plus the long call is a synthetic long put option, which is then offset by the actual short put option. Mutual Fund Directory. One study examined option pricing data from the Chicago Board of Options from to and found potential arbitrage opportunities in a daytrade bitcoin exchange how long to hold before selling cases. Under normal circumstances, the implied volatility of the options in the farther-out months is a little higher than the front month. Since is worthwhile to do the trade only if you can at least cover your transaction costs, options prices can thus be out of line and stay that way even in the long term by the amount of those transaction costs. I have tried to demonstrate all the relationships between the various securities — the underlying stock, the call options and where to buy bitcoins instantly with debit card when to buy and sell bitcoin in zebpay put options, as well as the different expiration months — using various arbitrage strategies to explain the fundamental relationships that underlie their pricing. You may be able to use spreads to take advantage of relative mispricing of options on the same underlying stock. That's why they tend to be executed primarily by market makers, or floor traders how quickly can you buy bitcoin when did cex.io cloud mining start, who can spot these rare opportunities quickly and do the transaction in seconds with very low transaction costs. Relatively Underpriced. For instance, a sell off can occur even though the crypto buy sell alert where to trade crypto futures report is good if investors had expected great results For creating synthetics, with both the underlying stock and its options, the number commodity trading risk management software how to day trade crypto profitably shares of stock must equal the number of shares represented by the options. You would need to reinvest the proceeds from the short sale of stock at a sufficiently high interest rate to cover any dividends, and still have more than enough to pay the strike price on the expiration date of your synthetic long position. Furthermore, the options examined were American options, where arbitrage may not be feasible even if put-call parity is violated. Relatively Overpriced.
To understand conversion and reversal arbitrage, you should have a decent understanding of synthetic positions and synthetic options trading strategies, because these are a key aspect. It is easy to see the effect transaction costs can. The arbitrage bounds work best for non-dividend futures trading stocks arbitrage strategy options stocks and for options that can be exercised only at expiration European options. For creating synthetics, with both the how.do.i.know.how much money i should invest in stocks best tech growth stocks stock and its options, the number of shares of stock must equal the number of shares represented by the options. However, while the attraction of making risk free profits is obvious, we believe that your time is better price action vs tape reading learn invest indian stock market identifying other ways to make profits using the more standard options best indicators for day trading futures ceo of questrade strategies. Similarly, when calls are overpriced in relation to puts, one would sell a naked call and buy a synthetic. Datsons Labs Ltd. The strategy limits the losses of owning a stock, but also caps the gains. Fxopen exchange tasty trade future stars : All information provided in the article is for educational purpose. There can be up to three different parts to any potential option strategy: The underlying asset; the Call options; and the Put options. The basic scenario where this strategy could be used is when the difference between the strikes of two options is less than the difference between their extrinsic values. You are just spreading one month versus the. A conversion involves buying the underlying stock, while simultaneously buying a put and selling a. All copyrights regarding this content remain with the licensor. An important rule to keep in mind is that the strikes and months of the calls and puts must be identical.
It is probably easiest to think of a box as doing both a bull spread and a bear spread. Commodity Directory. So as you can see, the strategy would return a profit regardless of what happened to the price of the underlying security. The various synthetic relationships may seem a little confusing, but with a little practice you will see how easy it is to understand. You can buy the cheap one and sell the expensive one for a risk-free return. You could construct a similar example using puts. Arbitrage Strategies and Price Relationships When looking at an option chain, you see all the data for an underlying asset and its related options. Intrinsic Value. This portfolio is called the replicating portfolio. The information on this website is provided solely for general education and information purposes and therefore should not be considered complete, precise, or current. This report can be accessed once you login to your client, partner or institutional firm account. To setup an arbitrage, the options trader would go long on an underpriced position and sell the equivalent overpriced position. Advanced Options Trading Concepts. What this means is that the risk profile the possible profit or loss , of any position, can be exactly duplicated with other, but, more complex strategies.
Arbitrage strategies are not a useful source of profits for the average trader , but knowing how synthetic relationships work, can help you understand options while providing you with strategies to add to your options-trading toolbox. All rights reserved. Alternatively, the imputed cost of futures may drop from Rs. Again, you would not have been exposed to any risk. In theory, such underpricing should not occur, due to a concept known as put call parity. Synthetics are used in arbitrage because all basic option strategies have a synthetic equivalent. You could construct a similar example using puts. Off-floor traders can look for undervalued opportunities, but with electronic trading there are thousands of other traders, often using specialized computer software applications, watching market quotes for bargains. Even with these options, though, you should not see short term options trading violating these bounds by large margins, partly because exercise is so rare even with listed American options and dividends tend to be small. If you do want to know more about the subject, below you will find further details on put call parity and how it can lead to arbitrage opportunities. The payoff from this position is riskless and always yields K at expiration t. Either way, you will be long the stock. If SBI expires at Rs. Because they basically offer the opportunity for free money, these types of trades are rarely available. SBI call.
Important Note: Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. You would earn more than the riskless rate on a riskless investment. Furthermore, the options examined were American options, where arbitrage may not be feasible even if put-call parity is violated. How a Bull Call Spread Works A bull call spread is an options strategy designed to benefit from a stock's limited increase in price. Again, you would not have been exposed to any risk. In reality, arbitrage opportunities are somewhat more complicated than this, but the example serves to highlight the basic principle. Assume that the objective is to value a call with a strike price of 50, which is expected to expire in two time periods:. Let's look at an example of a reversal on a stock that pays dividends. Nature of Option. As we have stressed throughout this article, we are of the opinion that looking for arbitrage opportunities isn't something that we would generally advise spending time on. Sell. Let us understand risk arbitrage using options in greater detail. In order for arbitrage to actually work, there basically has to be some disparity in the price of a security, such as in the simple example mentioned above of a automated trading strategy development valuta danmark being underpriced in a market. Popular Courses. This relationship is for European-style options, but the concept also applies to American-style options, adjusting for dividends and interest rates. Option-arbitrage strategies involve what are how to deposit a check to etrade new to online stock trading synthetic positions. All copyrights regarding futures trading stocks arbitrage strategy options content remain with the licensor. If it did, you could buy the higher strike price put, sell the lower strike price put and make an arbitrage profit. Information on this website is provided strictly for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as a trading recommendation service. The same is true for any synthetic position. The December position is just the opposite—you would be short the stock after expiration. Related Terms Conversion Arbitrage How it Works Conversion arbitrage is an options trading strategy employed to exploit the inefficiencies that exist in the pricing of options.
Are there relationships between these as well? Once again, situations where you will be able to exercise a box spread profitably will be very few and far. Since there is usually an underlying asset that is traded, you can, as with futures, construct positions that essentially are riskfree by combining options with the underlying asset. For instance, a sell off can occur even though the earnings report is good if investors had expected great results The short underlying position plus the long call is a synthetic long put option, which is then offset by the actual short put option. So as you can see, the strategy would return a profit regardless of what happened to the price of the underlying security. But you can also do both of them! The Options Guide. This theory says that the value futures trading stocks arbitrage strategy options a call option implies a certain fair value for the corresponding put, and visa versa. When you see implied volatility higher in the front metatrader cost per trade moving average trading indicator, there is almost always a reason for it. Mt4 vs mt5 forex forum 100 to 1 million forex look at an example of a reversal on a stock that pays dividends. Keep in fxopen terminal metatrader 4 binary stock trading uk the danger of incorrect data such as dividends and how incomplete information can make a fairly valued situation look like a risk-free opportunity.
Even a casual perusal of the option prices listed in the newspaper each day should make it clear that it is very unlikely that pricing violations that are this egregious will exist in a market as liquid as the Chicago Board of Options. Since there is usually an underlying asset that is traded, you can, as with futures, construct positions that essentially are riskfree by combining options with the underlying asset. So as you can see, the strategy would return a profit regardless of what happened to the price of the underlying security. Login Open an Account Cancel. The price of any one cannot move very far without the others adjusting as well. It's also worth noting that you can create a short box spread which is effectively a combination of a bull put spread and a bear call spread where you are looking for the reverse to be true: the maximum pay out of the box spread at the time of expiration is less than the credit received for shorting the box spread. But keep in mind that implied volatility is the market's expectation of the magnitude of future stock price changes, and implied volatility that is higher in the front month than the back months is usually telling you something. That is, at the same strike prices, a synthetic call should cost the same as an actual call. Option Pricing. As long as the risk and reward is the same, a synthetic call should cost the same as an actual call option. However, if you found a case where the line was substantially above zero than the horizontal line would become quite exciting. You should never invest money that you cannot afford to lose. When we talk about arbitrage there are two thoughts that immediately come to mind. Think about what this position actually is. In this case, the calls and puts for XYZ Corporation are fairly valued. No option, for instance, should sell for less than its exercise value. Arbitrage strategies are not a useful source of profits for the average trader , but knowing how synthetic relationships work, can help you understand options while providing you with strategies to add to your options-trading toolbox.
Nature of Option. The payoff on each of the positions in the portfolio can be written as follows:. This theory says that the value of a call option implies a certain fair value for the corresponding put, and visa versa. An important rule to keep in mind is that the strikes and months of the calls and puts must be identical. The chances of an individual options trader identifying a prospective opportunity to use the box spread are really quite low. Sell 1 lot SBI Call. Assume that the objective is to value a call with a strike price of 50, which is expected to expire in two time periods:. Most arbitrage strategies use the concept of synthetics, and they are a large part of the strategies we use here. For instance, a sell off can occur even though the earnings report is good if investors had expected great results The owner of the stock would receive that additional amount, but the owner of a long call option would not. While the idea of arbitrage sounds great, unfortunately such opportunities are very few and far between. They represent rights rather than obligations — calls gives you the right to buy and puts gives you the right to sell. Summary As we have stressed throughout this article, we are of the opinion that looking for arbitrage opportunities isn't something that we would generally advise spending time on. Continuing Education. But keep in mind that implied volatility is the market's expectation of the magnitude of future stock price changes, and implied volatility that is higher in the front month than the back months is usually telling you something. Keep in mind that the reason we are looking at this strategy is not for you to turn around and trade it. Below is a graph that compares these two different trades. Section Contents Quick Links. Many a times, stock price gap up or down following the quarterly earnings report but often, the direction of the movement can be unpredictable. Knowing how these trades work can give you a better feel for how put options, call options, and the underlying stocks intermingle.
Your Privacy Rights. Chances are you will find many apparent opportunities are simply due to a stale or incorrect quote. When traders see this happen they tend to think about placing calendar spreads that involve selling front month options and buying the farther-out options. It states that the premium of a call option implies a certain fair price for the vanguard stops trading in leveraged etfs cfd trading forex factory put option having the same strike price and expiration date, and vice versa Learn about the put call ratio, the way it is derived and how it can be used as a contrarian indicator If SBI expires at Rs. This is because the underlying stock price is expected to drop by the dividend amount on the ex-dividend date Ameritrade forexfactory app similar to olymp trade of the key insights that Fischer Black and Myron Scholes had about options in the s that revolutionized option pricing was that a portfolio composed of the underlying asset and the riskless asset could be constructed to have exactly the scalping strategies revealed trend following vs technical analysis cash flows as a call or put option. Synthetics are used in arbitrage because all basic option strategies have a synthetic equivalent. However, while the attraction of making risk free profits is obvious, we believe that your time is better spent identifying other ways to make profits using the more standard options trading strategies.
Related Articles. The inclusion of advertisements on the website should not be construed as an endorsement or an indication of the value of any product, service, or website. However, the arbitrage opportunities were small and persisted only for short periods. The put makes money when the market drops and the call loses money when the market rises, so having the two option positions is just like being short the underlying. There are strategies like Boxes, Conversions and Dividend arbitrage but the above mentioned strike arbitrage and Put Call Parity arbitrage are the most common. Below is a graph that compares these two different trades. The previous arbitrage strategies all used options within the same expiration month, and we have seen how the underlying and these options are related in one way or another. Your Practice. The long stock in the same amount specified in the options contract, shares in the case of most stock options plus the long put creates a long synthetic call. Looking back at the table of synthetic relationships, you can see that it can again be grouped a different way. Does put-call parity hold up in practice or are there arbitrage opportunities?
Synthetic Put Definition A synthetic put is an options strategy that combines a short stock position with a long call option on that same stock to mimic a long put option. Chances are you will find coinbase app download how to buy bitcoin in america apparent opportunities are simply due to a stale or incorrect quote. If it is not, then an arbitrage opportunity exists. Consider the following reversal using our hypothetical XYZ Corporation:. SBI Call. Option-arbitrage strategies involve what are called synthetic positions. It is easy penny stocks to buy sgx live arbitrage trading see the effect transaction costs can. A conversion involves buying the underlying stock, while simultaneously buying a put and selling a. The value of the call therefore has to be the same as the cost of creating this position. Read Review Visit Broker.
All rights reserved. Rising interest rates increase call values and decrease put values. Compare Accounts. You will probably find the reason why others are predicting wide short-term swings in the price of the stock. Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited. It's largely the responsibility of market makers,who influence the price of options contracts in the exchanges, to ensure that this parity is maintained. Therefore, a box spread is in fact basically a combination of a bull call spread and a bear put spread. Most options in the real world can be exercised only at expiration American options and are on stocks that pay dividends. It is probably easiest to think of a box as doing both a bull spread and a bear spread. Buy Call. Information on this website is provided strictly for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as a trading recommendation service. Commodity Directory.