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Short Strangle

neutral Uncapped risk

Maximum premium for a range-bound view.

When to use it

High IV rank, range-bound ticker, and a margin account. Sell an OTM put and an OTM call. Undefined-risk cousin of the condor.

Max profit

Both premiums collected.

Max loss

Large if the stock makes a big move; manage actively.

Payoff at expiry
illustrative shape — not to scale
profit zone loss zone X axis = stock price at expiry →
How it's built

Strikes shown low→high. Sell = collect premium · Buy = pay premium for protection or upside.

Hermes-evaluated setups

High-conviction per-ticker applications — setups with a confidence-adjusted win rate ≥ 80% over ≥20 backtested trades (95% lower bound — honest for the sample size, never a raw 100%). Avg P/L is the mean profit/loss per one-contract position.

Ticker Win Rate Avg P/L Sharpe Trades DTE
EQIX 88% +$251.00 1.8 43 21
MSCI 92% +$248.00 7.5 43 21
TMO 92% +$232.00 8.4 43 21
MSFT 88% +$229.00 2.4 43 21
APP 84% +$187.00 1.7 31 30
TXN 81% +$168.00 2.0 43 21
AMD 84% +$165.00 3.4 31 30
MA 81% +$162.00 1.3 43 21
HD 89% +$153.00 8.8 31 30
NOW 84% +$151.00 2.1 31 30
LIN 83% +$134.00 1.1 30 30
LNG 84% +$126.00 2.9 31 30
ETN 81% +$118.00 1.2 43 21
KKR 84% +$106.00 2.1 31 30
XOP 89% +$97.00 5.0 31 30
AAPL 84% +$94.00 1.4 31 30
QCOM 85% +$91.00 1.8 43 21
SMH 85% +$91.00 1.4 43 21
AMAT 88% +$89.00 3.6 43 21
BA 88% +$89.00 2.1 43 21

Backtested results are not a guarantee of future performance.