What is Bull Call Spread?

Even for those with a lot of experience and capital, investing in the sharemarket can be risky. While some investors may choose to buy stock directly, others might resort to other investment strategies to lower their risk. The purchase and sale options is one of these strategies.

Options are financial contracts which give parties the right but not the obligation to buy or sell securities (stocks and bonds, commodities, etc.). You can buy or sell securities at a specific price and for a certain time. They derive their value based on the security they are dealing in, also known as an underlying asset. Traders essentially make bets about whether or not this asset will appreciate or decrease in value. Traders deal in two main types of options.

• Call Option - This contract allows the trader to purchase units of security at a specific price and within a time frame.
• Option - These options enable traders to sell units at a predetermined amount and within a specified time period.

This article will be mainly focused on Call Options.

Call options offer investors the opportunity to have decent exposure to a security over a short time frame and with low risk. They can lead to a loss of premium if an option expires before the security reaches the strike price. To maximize the investment's potential value and minimize losses, some traders might use more complicated approaches to buying call options.

This involves simultaneously selling and buying call options on the same security with different expirations but different strike prices. This is called a vertical spread. It can be divided into two classes according to the relative strike price.

• Bull Call Spread A trader buys call options on a security for a specific strike price and then simultaneously sells the same number options with the identical expiration dates at a higher strike rate.
• Bear Call Spread A trader buys call options on a security for a specific strike price and then simultaneously sells the same number options with the identical expiration dates at a lower strike cost.

Bull call Spread

Let's take a closer look to Bull Call Spread. The core principles of a bull call spread are that the premiums paid for the options purchased are usually higher than those sold, and that they require an upfront investment. It is also called as a debit spread.

The long call refers to the purchase of options at lower strike price and the short call refers to the sale at higher strike rates. The spread is made up of two transactions, the call legs.

What works well and what doesn't?

Bull call spread strategies are great for situations that have high premiums on call options. They help traders reduce the risk of large losses if they place the wrong bets. Maximum losses are limited to the amount expended and then recovered in premiums.

This has the downside that while the cash influx from the sale short calls reduces expenses on long-call premiums, it also limits gains because the maximum profit is limited to the strike price for the short call.

While cautious traders might limit the difference in strike prices to decrease premium spend, they may also limit their potential profits. To increase their potential profits, more ambitious traders might build calls with greater strike price differences.

Bull call spreads can have potential problems. Traders could lose all premiums paid if the security doesn't appreciate enough before expiration. These spreads are not suitable for traders seeking high profits. A trader who is unable to profit from an asset's rapid rise in value will lose out due to the lower limit of profits established by the short call.

These are typically cheaper than buying call options only and are therefore best used in cases where call options are costly and expected returns are low. The spread's premiums for both short and long calls will balance out the capital outlay.

It is important to assess the mood of the market before you commit to this type spread. This is because it is most effective when used in specific situations.