unchanged over the life of the contract in order to retain the full net credit, but the trade is potentially more profitable (larger net credit) than an Iron Condor. A short straddle is effectively a short iron butterfly without the wings and is constructed simply by writing an at-the-money call and an at-the-money put. Similar to a short strangle, the short straddle offers no protection to limit losses and similar to a short iron butterfly, the straddle requires the underlying instrument's spot price to remain virtually unchanged over the life of the contract in order to retain the full net credit. A bull put spread is simply the lower side of a short iron condor and has virtually identical initial and maintenance margin requirements. It allows the trader to realize maximum profit when the underling is above the short strike on expiration. This strategy is alternatively called a put credit spread. A bear call spread is simply the upper side of a short iron condor and has virtually identical initial and maintenance margin requirements. It allows the trader to realize maximum profit when the underlying is below the short strike on expiration. This strategy is alternatively called a call credit spread. Long iron condor To sell or "go long" an iron condor, the trader will buy (long) options contracts for the inner strikes using an out-of-the-money put and out-of-the-money call options. The trader will then also sell or write (short) the options contracts for the outer strikes. Because the premium earned on the sales of the written contracts is less than the premium paid for the purchased contracts, a long iron condor is typically a net debit transaction. This debit represents the maximum potential loss for the long iron condor. The potential profit for a long iron condor is the difference between the strikes on either the call spread or the put spread (whichever is greater if it is not balanced) multiplied by the size of each contract (typically 100 or 1000 shares of the underlying instrument) less the net debit paid. A trader who sells a long iron condor speculates that the spot price of the underlying instrument will not be between the long strikes when the options expire. If the spot price of the underlying is less than the outer put strike, or greater than the outer call strike at expiration, then the long iron condor trader will