Long Call Vs Long Put Options Trading Strategy Comparison

Compare Long Call and Long Put options trading strategies. Find similarities and differences between Long Call and Long Put strategies. Find the best options trading strategy for your trading needs.

Long Call Vs Long Put

	Long Call	Long Put


About Strategy	A Long Call Option trading strategy is one of the basic strategies. In this strategy, a trader is Bullish in his market view and expects the market to rise in near future. The strategy involves taking a single position of buying a Call Option (either ITM, ATM or OTM). This strategy has limited risk (max loss is premium paid) and unlimited profit potential. When the trader goes long on call, the trader buys a Call Option and later sells it to earn profits if the price of the underlying asset goes up. When the trader buys a call, he pays the option premium in exchange for the right (but not the obligation) to buy share or index at a fixed price by a certain expiry date. This premium is the only amount at-the-risk for trader in case the mark... Read More	A Long Put strategy is a basic strategy with the Bearish market view. Long Put is the opposite of Long Call. Here you are trying to take a position to benefit from the fall in the price of the underlying asset. The risk is limited to premium while rewards are unlimited. Long put strategy is similar to short selling a stock. This strategy has many advantages over short selling. This includes the maximum risk is the premium paid and lower investment. The challenge with this strategy is that options have an expiry, unlike stocks which you can hold as long as you want. Let's assume you are bearish on NIFTY and expects its price to fall. You can deploy a Long Put strategy by buying an ATM PUT Option of NIFTY. If the price of NIFTY share... Read More
Market View	Bullish	Bearish
Strategy Level	Beginners	Beginners
Options Type	Call	Put
Number of Positions	1	1
Risk Profile	Limited	Limited
Reward Profile	Unlimited	Unlimited
Breakeven Point	Strike Price + Premium	Strike Price of Long Put - Premium Paid

When and how to use Long Call and Long Put?

	Long Call	Long Put
When to use?	A long call Option strategy works well when you expect the underlying instrument to move positively in the recent future. If you expect XYZ company to do well in near future then you can buy Call Options of the company. You will earn the profit if the price of the company shares closes above the Strike Price on the expiry date. However, if underlying shares don't do well and move downwards on expiry date you will incur losses (i.e. lose premium paid).	A long put option strategy works well when you're expecting the underlying asset to sharply decline or be volatile in near future.
Market View	Bullish When you're expecting a rise in the price of the underlying and increase in volatility.	Bearish When you are expecting a drop in the price of the underlying and rise in the volatility.
Action	Buy Call Option A long call strategy involves buying a call option only. So if you expect Reliance to do well in near future then you can buy Call Options of Reliance. You will earn a profit if the price of Reliance shares closes above the Strike price on the expiry date. However, if Reliance shares don't move up within the expiry date you will incur losses.	Buy Put Option Let's assume you're Bearish on Nifty currently trading at 10,400. You expect it to fall to 10,000 level. You buy a Put option with a strike price 10,000. If the Nifty goes below 10,000, you will make a profit on exercising the option. In case the Nifty rises contrary to expectation, you will incur a maximum loss of the premium.
Breakeven Point	Strike Price + Premium The break-even point for Long Call strategy is the sum of the strike price and premium paid. Traders earn profits if the price of the underlying asset moves above the break-even point. Traders loose premium if the price of the underlying asset falls below the break-even point.	Strike Price of Long Put - Premium Paid The breakeven is achieved when the strike price of the Put Option is equal to the premium paid.

Compare Risks and Rewards (Long Call Vs Long Put)

	Long Call	Long Put
Risks	Limited The risk is limited to the premium paid for the call option irrespective of the price of the underlying on the expiration date. Max Loss = Premium Paid	Limited The risk for this strategy is limited to the premium paid for the Put Option. Maximum loss will happen when price of underlying is greater than strike price of the Put option.
Rewards	Unlimited There is no limit to maximum profit attainable in the long call option strategy. The trade gets profitable when price of the underlying is greater than strike price plus premium. Profit = Price of Underlying - (Strike Price + Premium Paid)	Unlimited This strategy has the potential to earn unlimited profit. The profit will depend on how low the price of the underlying drops.
Maximum Profit Scenario	Underlying closes above the strike price on expiry.	Underlying goes down and Option exercised Maximum Profit = Unlimited Maximum Profit Achieved When Price of Underlying = 0 Profit = Strike Price of Long Put - Premium Paid
Maximum Loss Scenario	Underlying closes below the strike price on expiry.	Underlying goes up and Option not exercised Max Loss = Premium Paid + Commissions Paid Max Loss Occurs When Price of Underlying >= Strike Price of Long Put

Pros & Cons or Long Call and Long Put

	Long Call	Long Put
Advantages	Buying a Call Option instead of the underlying allows you to gain more profits by investing less and limiting your losses to minimum.	Unlimited profit potential with risk only limited to loss of premium.
Disadvantage	Call options have a limited lifespan. So, in case the price of your underlying stock is not higher than the strike price before the expiry date, the call option will expire worthlessly and you will lose the premium paid.	You may incur 100% loss in premium if the underlying price rises.
Simillar Strategies	Protective Put, Covered Put/Married Put, Bull Call Spread	Protective Call, Short Put, Long Straddle

1 Comments

1. Justin Gilead

| Link|August 16, 2022 9:47:47 PMReply

You partially get it wrong! The max loss will be the equivalent of the call premium paid for a single call position, indeed ; for a synthetic call options, it will be likened to the call options premium that you actually haven't paid as the call position has just been replicated along with the help of a long put and a long underlying though. For instance, if you purchase an ITM put, in addition to the long underlying, then the overall cost will be quite high, but the max risk entailed in the position will be the equivalent of the cheap OTM call options (only time value) that stands on the other side and on the same strike. In short, you may pay more to risk less with a synthetic options ; it definitely does the trick for hedging purposes then.

Compare