This strategy sells an SPX iron condor that expires about a week later, but only when markets have been calm. It collects a premium up front and keeps it if SPX stays inside a range. Most trades are closed early, once most of that premium has been earned.
1 condor open.
Every closed condor so far made money. That's what a condor does in a calm market, and it's exactly why it can look better than it is. Each one risks around $12,500 to make around $844. If a single condor lost its full risk, it would wipe out about 15 typical wins. The record only means something once it has been through a rough patch.
Running P&L of closed condors, one dot per condor (green won, red lost). Paper trades priced at real bid/ask quotes on all four legs.
An iron condor is a bet that SPX stays inside a range for the next week. It wins small and often, and loses big and rarely. Almost everything below is about avoiding the rare big loss.
There's a second check that doesn't care about the past: if the options market is charging more for protection over the next few days than over the next month, it's pricing trouble ahead, and no new condor is opened that day. In my backtest this check barely changed the average result, but without it the losses arrived in clusters big enough to wipe out the account. It's there for survival, not profit.
The two sides aren't symmetric. Over time SPX tends to drift up, so the call side sits further away than the put side. Options further out on both sides cap the most a condor can lose.
Why the exact numbers aren't here. I've described what each step does and why, but I've deliberately left out the settings that make it a complete system: the thresholds, distances, sizes, targets and timings. This page is a record of my own paper testing, not a set of rules for anyone to follow, and nothing on it is advice to trade. If you trade anything based on what you read here, the decisions and the results are entirely your own.
Since 24 Sep 2026 there have been 23 sessions. A new condor was opened on 11 of them. On 11 there were already two open, which is the limit, so it didn't look for another, and on 1 conditions weren't right for a new one (1 with trouble priced in).
opened a condor two already open trouble priced in
The capital at risk is the most a condor can lose if SPX runs straight through one side by expiry. It hasn't happened yet. When it does, it will be the most important trade on this page.
| Opened | Closed | Premium | At risk | Result | Return | Ended at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Oct | 26 Oct | $976 | $11,188 | +$913 | +8.2% | early profit |
| 14 Oct | 21 Oct | $1,205 | $13,000 | +$940 | +7.2% | early profit |
| 12 Oct | 19 Oct | $772 | $11,522 | +$585 | +5.1% | early profit |
| 9 Oct | 14 Oct | $787 | $10,350 | +$596 | +5.8% | early profit |
| 8 Oct | 12 Oct | $1,110 | $10,671 | +$837 | +7.8% | early profit |
| 5 Oct | 8 Oct | $935 | $13,000 | +$735 | +5.7% | early profit |
| 1 Oct | 8 Oct | $1,315 | $12,500 | +$1,135 | +9.1% | early profit |
| 30 Sep | 5 Oct | $1,120 | $12,500 | +$915 | +7.3% | early profit |
| 25 Sep | 30 Sep | $1,015 | $12,500 | +$770 | +6.2% | early profit |
| 24 Sep | 30 Sep | $1,140 | $12,500 | +$1,015 | +8.1% | early profit |
| Total | 10 condors | $10,374 | +$8,440 |
Premium and capital at risk are for the size actually traded. "Return" is the result divided by the capital at risk. No commissions.
If it's below zero after 20 closed condors, it goes to the graveyard with the others. The rules were fixed before it went live, and I won't tune them on its results.
Four options sold and bought together: it collects a premium up front and keeps it if the index stays between two prices until expiry. Options further out on both sides cap the most it can lose.
A week gives the premium time to decay while leaving room for the market to move around. Same-day condors collect less and can be wiped out by a single afternoon.
Its capital at risk, shown for every trade on this page. It is many times the premium collected, so one full loss can undo a long run of wins.
No. It is a record of my own paper testing, published as it happens. I don't sell signals, and nothing here is a recommendation to trade.
They are paper trades priced at real bid/ask quotes on all four legs, without commissions. Real fills on a four-leg order could be worse.
Paper trades, priced at real market bid/ask quotes, no commissions. The trade table is rebuilt every night; the Open now box updates live. This site records my own testing and trading. It isn't financial advice. Selling options can lose many times the premium collected.