A great strategy for option traders who believe that the underlying instrument they are working with will be range bound for the next 2 or 3 weeks to a month or so of time is the butterfly spread .

This theta positive option strategy produces profits when the stock or index that is being traded remains within a contained range on the graph or ends up on expiration day at or near the short strikes of the trade.

Here is a trade illustration of this strategy:

Buy 5 contracts of SPY 100 calls. Sell 10 contracts of SPY 105 calls. Purchase 5 contracts of SPY 110 calls.

These trades can generate quick gains for the investor due to the fact that the short strikes of the position (the strikes which are sold) deliver so much premium into the traders account for the reason that they are being sold ‘at the money’ – which are the strikes that have the greatest amount of time premium in them.

Whilst you will find numerous variations of the butterfly strategy, the two most frequent are the regular butterfly spread which is set on for a debit, as well as the iron butterfly, which is placed for a credit. Although these are two different versions of the butterfly spread, when you compare them next to each other on a a risk graph, they look identical. While the trade is in progress, they act identical too. With both versions of this technique, it will be the short strikes, or the strikes that are sold at the money, that provide the trader with profits.

The butterfly option strategy is a ‘delta neutral’ strategy, meaning that investors who use this technique do not have an opinion on market direction or believe that the underlying being traded will remain in its general location on the chart for the duration of the trade.

When traded correctly, the butterfly spread can be an very profitable, low tension, and quite enjoyable trade that like other similar trades, needs very little time and energy having to manage.

To find out more about this strategy, visit this Iron Condor Training Website for tons of free training videos, examples, and reports on how to correctly enter, exit, manage and adjust the Butterfly Spread to generate a consistent monthly income.