SteadyOptions is an options trading forum where you can find solutions from top options traders. Join Us!

We’ve all been there… researching options strategies and unable to find the answers we’re looking for. SteadyOptions has your solution.

Risk Reward Vs. Probability Of Profit


How many times did you hear the following claims:

  • "Our system has 90% success ratio".
  • "Our trades have 1 to 4 risk reward".
  • “Always keep your reward to risk ratio greater than 1”
  • “Only take trades with a minimum of a 2:1 reward to risk ratio”
  • “If you aim for more than you risk, then you will make money.”

Lets examine those statements and see how you should put them in context and consider other parameters as well. We will use vertical spread strategy as an example.

 

Lets take a look at the following trade:

 

  • Sell to open RUT August 1175 call
  • Buy to open RUT August 1185 call

 

This is the risk profile of the trade:

 

242c61bf5c2cb13bc166d07a3e4b07c9.png

 

As we can see, we are risking $822 to make $177. This is pretty bad risk reward. However, the picture looks a lot better when we look at the probability of success: it is 78%. We need the underlying to stay below 1175 by August expiration, and there is 78% chance that it will happen.

 

In this trade, bad risk/reward = high probability of success.

 

Lets take a look at another trade:

 

  • Sell to open RUT August 1100 call
  • Buy to open RUT August 1110 call

 

This is the risk profile of the trade:

 

805ce5f279c5ed97f47c3bd2dc82c603.png

 

As we can see, we are risking only $185 to make $815. That's terrific risk/reward (more than 1:4). The only problem is that RUT will have to go below 1110, and there is only 20.7% probability that this will happen. (In fact, to realize the full profit, RUT has to go below 1100 and stay there by expiration).

 

In this trade, excellent risk/reward = low probability of success.

 

The following table illustrates the relation between probability of success and risk-reward:

 

503bc5dca55716d5f4ea06ba2ea53329.png

 

Of course, this is not an exact science, but it helps us to see the approximate relation and trade-off between the risk-reward and the probability of success.

 

So next time someone will ask you: "Would you risk $9 to make $1?" - consider the context. Yes, it is a terrible risk/reward, but considering high probability of success, this is not such a bad trade. It will likely be a winner most of the time - the big question is what you do in those cases it goes against you?

 

At the same time, the answer to the question "Would you risk $1 to make $9?" is also not so obvious. It is an excellent risk/reward, but the probability to actually realize this reward is very low.

 

In trading, there is always a trade-off. You will have to choose between a good risk-reward and a high probability of success. You cannot have both.

 

Watch the video:

 


If you want to learn more about options strategies:

 

Start Your Free Trial

What Is SteadyOptions?

12 Years CAGR of 115.5%

Full Trading Plan

Complete Portfolio Approach

Real-time trade sharing: entry, exit, and adjustments

Diversified Options Strategies

Exclusive Community Forum

Steady And Consistent Gains

High Quality Education

Risk Management, Portfolio Size

Performance based on real fills

Subscribe to SteadyOptions now and experience the full power of options trading!
Subscribe

Non-directional Options Strategies

10-15 trade Ideas Per Month

Targets 5-7% Monthly Net Return

Visit our Education Center

Recent Articles

Articles

  • When Investors Lose Their Nerve

    It was a rough end to the week for markets, with a sharp sell-off on Friday reminding investors just how quickly sentiment can turn. For anyone who sold in late summer anticipating a correction and then bought back in at the start of October, that one-day drop might have felt like confirmation that they can’t win.

    By Kim,

    • 0 comments
    • 521 views
  • Uncovering Common Cryptocurrency Trading Mistakes For Beginners

    Are you tempted by the shining allure of crypto trading? You aren’t alone. Decentralized cryptocurrencies hold perhaps the most tempting investment pull of a generation, especially amongst young or beginner investors. After all, by painting a different way to buy and sell, cryptocurrency offers something new that we’re all keen to get in on. 

    By Kim,

    • 0 comments
    • 7063 views
  • Buy Call, Sell Put Strategy Explained | SteadyOptions

    The Sell Put And Buy Call Strategy is an example of a synthetic stock options strategy: using call and puts options to mimic the performance of a position, usually involving the purchase of a stock. We saw this when looking at the synthetic covered call strategy elsewhere.

    By Chris Young,

    • 0 comments
    • 68335 views
  • Long Straddle Options Strategy | Maximize Profits with Big Moves

    Straddle Options Definition
    An options straddle strategy is buying (or selling) both a put and call option with the same strike price and expiration date for the same underlying asset, and paying both the put and call premiums.

    By Pat Crawley,

    • 0 comments
    • 68771 views
  • Gamma Scalping Options Trading Strategy

    Gamma scalping is a sophisticated options trading strategy primarily employed by institutions and hedge funds for managing portfolio risk and large positions in equities and futures. As a complex technique, it is particularly suitable for experienced traders seeking to capitalize on market movements, whether up or down, as they occur in real-time.

    By Chris Young,

    • 0 comments
    • 31315 views
  • Long Gamma vs Short Gamma: Options Strategy Explained

    Gamma is one of the primary Options Greeks, which measure an option's sensitivity to specific factors that could affect an option price. Despite traders hyping up several different Greeks and second-order Greeks like "Vanna" and "charm," there are only four primary Greeks that you need to be familiar with to understand options trading.

     

    By Pat Crawley,

    • 0 comments
    • 51160 views
  • Predicting Probabilities in Options Trading: A Deep Dive into Advanced Methods

    In options trading, the focus should not be on predicting the exact closing price of a ticker on a given date - a near-impossible task given the pseudo-random nature of markets. Instead, we aim to estimate probabilities: the likelihood of a ticker being above a specific value at a certain point in time. This perspective turns trading into a probabilistic exercise, leveraging historical data to make informed decisions.

    By Romuald,

    • 1 comment
    • 17620 views
  • SteadyOptions 2024 - Year in Review

    2024 marks our 13th year as a public trading service. We closed 136 winners out of 187 trades (72.7% winning ratio). Our model portfolio produced 116.7% compounded gain on the whole account based on 10% allocation per trade. We had only one losing month (of 0.6% loss) in 2024. 

    By Kim,

    • 0 comments
    • 6678 views
  • Wheel Strategy Options: Master Wheel Trading Explained

    The “wheel” trade is variously described as a beginner’s strategy, a combination to exploit features of both calls and puts, and as “perfect” solution to the well-known risks of shorting calls, even when covered. The options wheel strategy is an income-generating options trading strategy that both beginners and experienced traders can leverage for profit.

    By Pat Crawley,

    • 0 comments
    • 77413 views
  • Why Dollar Delta Will Change Your Trading

    Delta is one of the four main option Greeks, and any serious trader needs to have a thorough understanding of this greek if they hope to have any chance of success in the trading options. If you’re a beginner, you can visit my blog to learn more about understanding option delta

    By GavinMcMaster,

    • 0 comments
    • 36937 views

  • Upvote 1
  Report Article


We want to hear from you!


Guest AkramMajed

Posted

Trading always comes hand in hand with risk and is directly proportional to success. If don't take risk you will not succeed.

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course. But it is also important to understand the trade-off between the risk-reward and the probability of success. It is important to understand that when implementing a 90% winning ratio strategy, you sacrifice something - it doesn't come for free. 

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

This sounds like one of those "there isn't a right or wrong answer"... I think by place 90% probabilty trades you will be close to "picking up nickles infront of a steamroller"... on the other hand, if you do the 10% probabiliyt trades, they will be lottery tickets and you will rarely win... I don't think neither of those trades can be profitable unless you tweak that system. In the 90% chance trade, it will be that 10% that will wipe you out... 

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Absolutely. It all comes to trade management.

 

There is still a small edge on all those trades (10%, 90% or 50%) due to the fact that in the long term, Implied Volatility tends to be slightly higher than Historical Volatility. But the main edge comes from the trade management.

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

With the picking up nickels in front of a steamroller analogy doesn't that really only apply with the spread moves completely against you. Can't you avoid the steamroller by putting a stop loss in place? Are there brokers that have a function where you can have the strategy close out if the underlying security hits a dollar amount? You may get your arm clipped but not run over....

 

I placed an $AAPL bull put spread where I bough the Aug 15 93 put and sold the Aug 15 94 put. I collected 150$ premium and rode it out to collect 90% of the premium before closing out the trade. (The only reason I don't hold into expiration is I am trying to avoid after hours trading debacles)

 

If I had parameters in place to avoid it ever even getting to the 94 mark, wouldn't it make sense to place this trade over and over and over if the probability of success is there?

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most brokers have this functionality. You just set a contingent order to close or adjust based on certain parameters. We do it all the time in our Steady Condors portfolio. 

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest uktrader

Posted

what you have forgotten to explain is that even with a 78 percent win rate you could still get 4 to 5 losing trades in a row so risking 800 to make 200 in your exanple would be a financial disaster should you run into these horrendous losing clusters

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Guest uktrader said:

what you have forgotten to explain is that even with a 78 percent win rate you could still get 4 to 5 losing trades in a row so risking 800 to make 200 in your exanple would be a financial disaster should you run into these horrendous losing clusters

Of course. But this is true with any trade. This is where position sizing and risk management come in place. If you make 10-15% on you winning trades, you cannot afford to lose more than 20-25% on your losing trades.

There are few dimensions to every trade. Risk/reward, probability of success, risk management etc. The point is that you cannot take just one dimension (like 80% winning ratio) and say that this is what makes this trade better than others.

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites



Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

Options Trading Blogs