Free Calculator
Bull Put Spread Calculator
Enter your strikes, premiums, and contracts to get max profit, max loss, breakeven, and return on risk — with a payoff chart you can read at a glance.
Sell to open (short put)
Buy to open (long put)
Net Credit
$150
Max Profit
$150
If price finishes at or above the short strike
Max Loss
-$350
If price finishes at or below the long strike
Breakeven
$93.50
Decision metrics — from $100.00
- Return on Risk
- 42.9%
- Risk : Reward
- 2.33:1
- Premium / Width
- 30.0%
- Distance to Breakeven
- +7.0% (above $93.50)
Actually placing this Bull Put Spread?
Track it in your journal — free, no credit card required — and see if it pays off once you close it.
What is a bull put spread?
A bull put spread (also called a short put spread) is a defined-risk, defined-reward options strategy that profits when a stock stays flat or rises. You sell a put at a higher strike and buy a put at a lower strike, both expiring on the same date. Selling the higher-strike put brings in more premium than you pay for the lower-strike put, so you collect a net credit when you open the trade.
That net credit is your maximum profit. Your maximum loss is capped at the width between the two strikes, minus the credit you received — which is what makes this a defined-risk alternative to selling a naked put.
How the calculator works
Enter the current stock price, the strike and premium for the put you're selling (the short put), the strike and premium for the put you're buying (the long put), and the number of contracts. The calculator computes the position's payoff at expiration across a range of stock prices and reads off the max profit, max loss, and breakeven directly from that payoff curve — the same math a broker's risk graph uses.
Bull put spread formulas
- Net credit = (short put premium − long put premium) × 100 × contracts
- Max profit = net credit
- Max loss = (strike width − net credit per share) × 100 × contracts
- Breakeven = short put strike − net credit per share
Worked example
Stock trading at $100. Sell the $95 put for $2.50, buy the $90 put for $1.00, one contract:
- Net credit: ($2.50 − $1.00) × 100 = $150
- Max profit: $150, if the stock closes at or above $95
- Max loss: ($5 width − $1.50 credit) × 100 = $350, if the stock closes at or below $90
- Breakeven: $95 − $1.50 = $93.50
- Return on risk: $150 / $350 ≈ 42.9%
These are the exact defaults loaded in the calculator above — change any field to model your own trade.
Common mistakes
- Setting the short strike too close to the current price for the credit received, leaving little room for the stock to move against you before hitting breakeven.
- Ignoring that max loss happens fast — once price is below the long strike, the loss is already capped, so there's no benefit to holding through further downside.
- Comparing the credit received to account size instead of to the capital actually at risk (the width between strikes minus the credit).
- Forgetting that early assignment risk exists on the short put, especially as expiration nears or if the stock trades below the short strike with little time value left.
FAQ
Bull put spread questions, answered.
What is a bull put spread?
A bull put spread is a credit spread you use when you expect a stock to stay flat or rise. You sell a put at a higher strike and buy a put at a lower strike, both with the same expiration. You collect a net credit up front, which is your maximum possible profit.
How do you calculate max profit on a bull put spread?
Max profit equals the net credit received, multiplied by 100 and by the number of contracts. It's the same number you collect when you open the trade — you keep the whole credit if the stock closes at or above the short put's strike at expiration.
How do you calculate max loss on a bull put spread?
Max loss equals the width between the two strikes minus the net credit received, multiplied by 100 and by the number of contracts. This is the most you can lose if the stock finishes at or below the long put's strike at expiration.
What is the breakeven price for a bull put spread?
Breakeven equals the short put's strike minus the net credit received. Above that price, you keep some or all of the credit. Below it, losses grow until they're capped at your max loss at the long put's strike.
Is a bull put spread bullish or bearish?
Bullish to neutral. You profit as long as the stock stays above the short put's strike at expiration — it doesn't need to rise, just avoid falling below that level.
Does this calculator use real-time option prices?
No — this is a manual-input calculator. Enter the strikes and premiums from your own broker's option chain to model the trade before or after you place it.
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Trading a different structure, or not sure which one fits? Model any options strategy — single calls and puts, spreads, and iron condors — on one page.
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