Options Trading Strategy: Long Combo – Put & Call

A Long Combo is a Bullish strategy. If an investor is expecting the price of a stock to move up he can do a Long Combo strategy. It involves selling an OTM (lower strike) Put and buying an OTM (higher strike) Call. This options strategy simulates the action of buying a stock (or a futures) but at a fraction of the stock price. It is an inexpensive trade, similar in pay-off to Long Stock, except there is a gap between the strikes (please see the payoff diagram). As the stock price rises the strategy starts making profits.

PROTECTIVE CALL / SYNTHETIC LONG PUT 

This is a strategy wherein an investor has gone short on a stock and buys a call to hedge. An investor shorts a stock and buys an ATM or slightly OTM Call. The net effect of this is that the investor creates a pay-off like a Long Put, but instead of having a net debit (paying premium) for a Long Put, he creates a net credit (receives money on shorting the stock). In case the stock price falls the investor gains in the downward fall in the price. However, in case there is an unexpected rise in the price of the stock the loss is limited. The pay-off from the Long Call will increase thereby compensating for the loss in value of the short stock position. This strategy hedges the upside in the stock position while retaining downside profit potential.