Glossary

Iron Condor

By Rohan Fernandes, Founder · Updated 2026-08-21 · Educational reference, not investment advice

An iron condor combines an out-of-the-money bull put spread and bear call spread on one expiration, collecting both credits. It profits when the stock finishes between the short strikes; max loss is the wider wing's width minus the total credit.

The condor is a pure volatility-premium position with no directional opinion, which concentrates all of its edge in entry conditions: the volatility being sold has to be genuinely rich, both wings have to be liquid enough to exit, and no scheduled event should span the expiration. The screening rules, and the honest expectation-setting from the CBOE condor benchmark's flat decade, are covered in iron condor entry screening.

Educational reference. Options Scanner is a software tool. It is not a broker-dealer, an investment adviser, or a fiduciary, and nothing on this page is investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Options involve risk and are not suitable for every investor; read the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options before trading. Examples use hypothetical numbers for illustration only.