Crypto options strategies: profit, loss and breakeven

In short. An options strategy is a set of legs on one underlying: bought and sold calls and puts, sometimes together with a future. Its maximum profit, maximum loss and breakeven come from the payoff at expiry: a call pays max(S − K, 0), a put — max(K − S, 0), where S is the underlying price and K the strike; add the premium received and subtract the premium paid. Look for the extremes at the strikes and at the edges; breakeven is where the total is zero. In a hypothetical example, a BTC 100,000/110,000 bull call spread bought for $3,400 loses at most $3,400, makes up to $6,600 and breaks even at 103,400.

How to calculate any strategy

Leg result = size × (payoff − premium)

• A bought leg has a positive size, a sold leg a negative one; a future gives size × (S − entry price).
• The strategy is the sum of its legs; between strikes it is a straight line, so check the extremes at each strike and at a price of 0.
• Above the highest strike the total changes by (bought calls + long future − sold calls) × the price rise: above zero means unlimited profit, below zero — unlimited loss.

Bybit's help article on strategies does the same math: its 60,000/64,000 bull call spread bought for $200 makes $3,800 at 66,000, loses $200 at 57,000 and breaks even at 60,200.

Every strategy on one example

The prices are hypothetical — an example, not a quote, with no fees: BTC at entry is $100,000, options expire in 30 days, each leg is 1 BTC. Premiums come from the Black formula at 50% IV, rounded to $50: the 100,000, 105,000 and 110,000 calls cost $5,700, $3,700 and $2,300; the 100,000, 95,000 and 90,000 puts — $5,700, $3,400 and $1,850. In «Premium», «−» means paid and «+» received.

Long call and long put

A long call profits from a rise: the loss is the premium ($5,700), breakeven is strike plus premium (105,700). A long put is the same on a fall: breakeven is strike minus premium (94,300). Premiums, expiry and settlement on the exchange are covered in the article on how to trade options on Bybit.

Bull call spread and bear put spread

• Bull call spread — buy the lower-strike call and sell the higher-strike one, same expiry. Max loss = debit, max profit = width − debit, breakeven = lower strike + debit: 5,700 − 2,300 = $3,400, 10,000 − 3,400 = $6,600, 103,400.
• Bear put spread — the mirror image on a fall: buy the higher-strike put and sell the lower-strike one; breakeven = higher strike − debit = 100,000 − 3,850 = 96,150.

When to use it: you have a view on direction and a target. The sold leg makes the entry 40% cheaper ($3,400 instead of $5,700 for the call) but gives away any rise above 110,000.

Straddle and strangle

• Long straddle — a call and a put with the same strike and expiry. The largest loss is both premiums, $11,400, if the price sits exactly at the strike at expiry; breakeven is strike ± premiums: 88,600 and 111,400, an 11.4% move either way.
• Long strangle — an out-of-the-money call and put: cheaper ($4,150), but the breakevens are further away — 85,850 and 114,150.

When to use it: you expect a big move but not its direction — ahead of a major event. Without the move the options lose time value, and after the event IV often drops.

Iron condor

Four legs with one expiry: sell the 95,000 put and the 105,000 call, buy the wings — the 90,000 put and the 110,000 call. Received: 3,400 − 1,850 + 3,700 − 2,300 = $2,950.

• Max profit = premium — $2,950 with the price between 95,000 and 105,000;
• max loss = wing width − premium — 5,000 − 2,950 = $2,050 below 90,000 or above 110,000;
• breakeven = sold strikes ∓ premium — 92,050 and 107,950.

When to use it: you expect the price to stay in a range. The wings cap the loss: without them it is a short strangle with unlimited upside loss.

Covered call and protective put with a future

In crypto the long behind the option can be a perpetual future instead of the coin: at expiry it gives the same S − entry price, funding aside. In the example it is a 1 BTC long from 100,000.

• Covered call — the long plus a sold 110,000 call for $2,300: profit up to 10,000 + 2,300 = $12,300, breakeven 97,700, a $97,700 loss at a price of 0. It fits when you are ready to give up the rise above the strike for the premium.
• Protective put — the long plus a bought 95,000 put for $3,400: the loss is capped at 5,000 + 3,400 = $8,400, profit is unlimited, breakeven 103,400. Per Bybit's help, the put covers the same size as the position.

The future leg has its own costs and risks outside the table: funding and, with leverage, the liquidation price.

What to check before entering

• Expiry. Per Bybit's help as of 29 October 2026, the exchange's options are European and cash-settled: they are exercised automatically and only at expiry, at the average index price over the 30 minutes before it. Close earlier and the result depends on premiums at exit.
• Fees — a trading fee on every leg plus a delivery fee.
• Option sellers, per the same help, face liquidation risk; buyers do not.

Option structures in Davinchu

The «Options» section appears in the dashboard with a Bybit account: two years of option history are imported, trades stay in the account's trading journal and group themselves into structures.

• Grouping. One open structure per underlying per account: new legs on the same underlying are its adjustments. The type comes from the legs: spreads, straddles, strangles, calendars, butterflies, «Iron condor», «Risk reversal». A perpetual on the same underlying in the same account is attached automatically; with a long future a sold call becomes a «Covered call» and a bought put a «Protective put».
• Editing — «Edit»: «Name», «Note», «Move legs out», «Merge with structure», the «Include the future in the same asset» toggle and «Remove manual edits». Automatic grouping never overrides your edits.
• Card of an open structure — «Structure payoff»: an «At expiry» line by intrinsic value and a «Today» line by the Black–Scholes model with Bybit mark IV; «Max profit», «Max loss», «Breakeven» and price scenarios of ±10%.
• Structure journal — the «Journal» tab: legs, days, «Entry premium», «Result», «To risk», «IV entry → exit», «Underlying entry → exit», note; filters by account, underlying, type, status and dates.

«To risk» is the result as a percentage of the largest loss at expiry of the option legs at full size, at entry prices and IV, excluding the future and fees. The example condor held to expiry inside the range makes +$2,950 on a $2,050 risk — +144% before fees. If more calls are sold than bought, the loss is unlimited and the column shows «∞» — the covered call too, since the future is not part of the risk. For the protective put the risk is the put premium.

This shows which structure types earn more for their risk and at what IV you enter. Connecting is covered in the Bybit connection guide; the Free plan connects two accounts at no cost; everything for crypto — on the «Davinchu for crypto traders» page.