In 4-legged spreads (butterfly/condor/box), the expiration of the long legs must be exactly the same as (and not after) the short legs.
For a 2-legged diagonal spread, the later expiration on the longer leg poses no problem. But for a 4-legged spread the expirations must match.
My question are:
(1) does any broker allow a "diagonal butterfly", or does the restriction come from further upstream?
(2) do you have any ideas about the motivation for not allowing this, despite allowing diagonal 2-legged spreads?
As an example, the following is treated as two separate diagonal spreads rather than a butterfly:
1 Long Call @ $100 expiring in 1 month
2 Short Call @ $110 expiring in 1 week
1 Long Call @ $120 expiring in 1 month
For a 2-legged diagonal spread, the later expiration on the longer leg poses no problem. But for a 4-legged spread the expirations must match.
My question are:
(1) does any broker allow a "diagonal butterfly", or does the restriction come from further upstream?
(2) do you have any ideas about the motivation for not allowing this, despite allowing diagonal 2-legged spreads?
As an example, the following is treated as two separate diagonal spreads rather than a butterfly:
1 Long Call @ $100 expiring in 1 month
2 Short Call @ $110 expiring in 1 week
1 Long Call @ $120 expiring in 1 month
Last edited: