The Calendar Spread is an option income strategy used by professional traders to generate steady monthly income. It can also be used by retail traders who have educated themselves on how to properly use this strategy to not only generate cashflow – but to also benefit their overall portfolio.

The calendar spread is a theta trade – an option trade that benefits and generates profit – from the fact that options are a decaying asset. As time goes by, options decay – and the value that was initially in the option that was sold evaporates – leaving cash in the calendar spread traders pocket.

To construct a calendar spread trade, we need to sell a closest month option while buying a later month option at the identical strike price. During the trade, the time premium in the closer month option (the one that was sold) loses it’s value at a much brisker rate than the option that was bought. This difference is how the profit is generated.

Here is a hypothetical example of a calendar spread trade: Sell 5 Nov 60 call. Buy 5 Dec 60 call.

Now while in the example above the calendar position was created using joined together months, calendar spreads can also be created with a gap between the months.

As a sample, rather than use May 35 puts – one could instead use June 35 puts – or July.

Typically calendar spread traders will utilize this strategy when they believe the underlying vehicle they are trading will stay in a range – or will wind up on expiration day close to or right at strike price which was sold.

Since some option traders feel that the calendar spread is one of the most easiest option trades to manage, they like trading them better than some other option trades, like the iron condor, credit spread, and butterfly. Regardless, it really comes down to personal preference and in the end, all option traders would agree that this strategy is a wonderful technique to have in their ‘trade toolbox’.

Looking for more info on how to go about correctly trading the Calendar Spread, then visit www.calendarspread.org to find the best strategies – as well as mor info on trading the Credit Spread .