Iron Condor Strategy - Journal Guide

What Is an Iron Condor?

An iron condor combines two vertical spreads: a bull put spread and a bear call spread on the same underlying with the same expiration. You collect premium from both sides, and profit when the underlying stays between your short strikes.

It’s a market-neutral strategy that profits from time decay and stable prices.

Anatomy of an Iron Condor

For a stock trading at $100:

• Sell the $95 put (short put)
• Buy the $90 put (long put for protection)
• Sell the $105 call (short call)
• Buy the $110 call (long call for protection)

You collect a net credit. If the stock stays between $95 and $105 at expiration, you keep the entire credit.

When Iron Condors Work Best

The strategy thrives in specific conditions:

• High IV environments that inflate premium
• Range-bound markets with no strong directional bias
• Low-catalyst periods between earnings and major events
• Instruments with mean-reverting tendencies (indices)

Your journal should correlate market conditions at entry with trade outcomes.

Journaling Iron Condors

Entry Data

• Short strikes and deltas
• Wing width
• Net credit received
• Max risk (wing width minus credit)
• IV rank at entry
• Days to expiration

Management Data

• Did you need to adjust?
• What adjustment was made?
• Additional credit or debit from adjustment
• Was the adjustment profitable?

Exit Data

• Exit at profit target, stop-loss, or expiration?
• Actual P&L vs max profit
• Days held vs planned duration

Key Iron Condor Metrics

Track these in your journal to optimize performance:

Credit-to-Width Ratio

The credit received divided by the wing width. Higher ratios mean better risk-reward. Target at least 30% of wing width as credit.

Adjustment Frequency

How often do you need to adjust? If adjusting more than 30% of trades, your strike selection may be too aggressive.

Win Rate vs Average P&L

A 70% win rate is meaningless if your average loss is 3x your average win. Track both together.

Advanced Iron Condor Management

The Broken Wing

Skewing one side wider than the other creates a directional bias. Track whether broken wings outperform symmetrical condors.

Rolling

When price approaches a short strike, rolling that side to a later expiration and further strike gives the trade more room and time. Log every roll with its cost.

Early Closure

Closing at 50% of max profit and redeploying capital often produces better annualized returns than waiting for full profit. Your journal will confirm the optimal exit point.