Credit spread analytics for defined-risk options sellers

A vertical spread is two (or four) legs that only make sense together. If your portfolio tool shows four one-off options, you cannot see credit, max risk, or return on capital without a side spreadsheet. CoveredLoop’s credit-spread workspace is built for sellers who already think in structures: bull put, bear call, iron condor, iron butterfly.

This page describes how that workspace is organized. It is not a recommendation to sell spreads, condors, or butterflies. Defined risk is not the same as no risk. Early assignment, gap opens, and liquidity still exist. Read the risk disclosures and treat CoveredLoop as a ledger and analytics layer, not as advice.

Each structure shows the credit taken in, max risk, max reward, return on capital, duration, realized P&L, unrealized P&L, and leg-level marks. Sort and filter the list the same way you would a blotter — underlying, account, open vs closed, date — without losing the pairing of short and long strikes.

When a wing was assigned to the wrong bucket, split it or recategorize the leg. That is cheaper than deleting a four-leg iron condor and keying it again. The same cleanup tools exist on covered calls so the book has one language for “this lot belongs over there.”

Credit is the easy number. The number that changes behavior is return on capital against the margin or cash the spread actually ties up. CoveredLoop keeps that on the card so a $0.40 credit on a tight put spread and a $0.40 credit on a wide one do not look the same. Duration sits next to it so a 10-day trade and a 45-day trade are not compared as if they were the same holding period.

Those structure metrics roll into the dashboard and into Profit and Loss: charts, distribution by trade type, and the account-balance rollforward. If credit-spread P&L on the summary tiles does not match a naive sum of “option P&L” in a brokerage app, it is often because the brokerage is not grouping the wings. CoveredLoop is.

The four shapes share a workspace and keep their own labels. You can filter to one structure type when you are reviewing a campaign (for example, only bull puts in a single account) or leave them combined when you want the whole defined-risk sleeve next to the covered-call sleeve. Multi-account selection updates every total at once — IRA, taxable, and paper stay distinct books.

Iron condors and butterflies are stored as the structure, not as two unrelated verticals that happen to share an expiration. Closing one side, rolling a wing, or taking the untested side off is still visible on the original card so post-trade review is not a reconstruction project.

The research tools screen for credit-spread ideas, open a live or estimated chain (and extend strikes up or down), and run what-if before anything hits a live ticket. Add the setup to Sample or Manual and you will see the same credit / max risk / ROC fields that live trades get. That is the point of the sample book: learn the product on realistic structures without connecting a broker.

Free Sample access is uncapped. Manual free tier is two accounts and twenty-five trades. When you want live marks from Tradier, monthly, annual, or lifetime plans unlock the official OAuth connection. Paper stays optional and sandboxed.

Credit spreads are one sleeve. Equities, standalone options, covered calls, trade history, metrics (win rate, profit factor, expectancy, Sharpe, and the rest), and exportable reports share the same account filter. A client-ready PDF can include the spread list next to the equity curve. None of that requires you to export to Excel first — though Excel and CSV export exist when you want a paper trail.

See the signed-in tour on What We Offer and shorter desk notes on Insights. If you want the product in your hands, create a free account and open the sample portfolio.