Every number you need at the trade desk — strikes, credits, exits and adjustments on one page
Iron Condor Cheat Sheet: Setup & Exit Rules
The complete iron condor playbook condensed to one page: entry criteria, strike selection, credit targets, exit rules and adjustment triggers.
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Iron Condor Cheat Sheet
A quick-reference card for trading iron condors: sell a put spread below the market and a call spread above it, collect roughly one-third of the wing width in credit, exit at 50% of max profit or 21 DTE, and defend the tested side by rolling the untested side closer.
Print it, pin it, stop second-guessing entries at the trade desk.
Quick answer
30-45 DTE. Short strikes at 16-20 delta. Credit ≥ 1/3 of wing width. Exit at 50% profit or 21 DTE, whichever first. Defend at short-strike touch by rolling the untested side. Never let a winner turn into a max loss.
A standard iron condor sells around the 15-20 delta strikes with equal-width wings, and is commonly managed by closing at 50% of maximum profit.
Entry Checklist
- ✅ IV Rank above 30 — ideally 50+. Premium selling needs rich premium (check with the IV calculator)
- ✅ 30-45 DTE — the theta/gamma sweet spot
- ✅ No earnings before expiration — binary events break the math
- ✅ Liquid chain — penny-wide spreads on SPY/QQQ; under $0.15 ATM spread on single names
- ✅ Short strikes at 16-20 delta both sides (~1 standard deviation)
- ✅ Credit ≥ 1/3 of wing width — $5 wings need $1.65+
The Numbers Table
| Parameter | Standard | Aggressive | Conservative |
|---|---|---|---|
| DTE at entry | 30-45 | 21-30 | 45-60 |
| Short strike delta | 16-20Δ | 25-30Δ | 10-16Δ |
| Profit target | 50% | 25-35% | 65-75% |
| Loss limit | 1.5-2x credit | 2x credit | 1x credit |
| Manage at | 21 DTE | 14 DTE | 28 DTE |
| Expected win rate | 65-70% | 55-60% | 75-85% |
Win-rate figures come from our iron condor backtest across delta and DTE combinations.
Adjustment Triggers
Underlying touches a short strike: roll the untested side to ~30Δ for extra credit. Position becomes closer to an iron fly; max loss shrinks by the credit collected.
Short strike breached and 21+ DTE remain: roll the entire condor out one cycle for a net credit if possible. Never roll for a debit.
Loss hits 1.5-2x credit received: close. The win rate math only works if losers stay capped well below max loss.
50% profit before 21 DTE: take it. Re-deploy in a fresh cycle rather than babysitting the last dollars of theta.
Sizing Rule
Risk per condor = wing width − credit. Cap total condor risk at 1-3% of account per position and no more than ~5 concurrent positions across uncorrelated underlyings. At $5 wings and $1.70 credit, risk is $330/contract — a $25k account trades 1-2 contracts per position, not 10.
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- ApexVol Research Team
Quantitative options research. All calculations use live institutional-grade data — the same source professional volatility desks use. - Reviewed by
- Ryan Silk, ApexVol Founder
Reviewed for technical accuracy. 10+ years trading options; built ApexVol's pricing engine, Greeks model and IV-rank methodology.
Revised as market conditions and institutional data change. Last revised 2026-06-05. How we research →
Questions
What people ask
about this.
What delta should iron condor short strikes be?
The standard is 16-20 delta for the short put and short call — roughly the one-standard-deviation expected move. 16-delta condors win more often but collect less credit; 20-25 delta collects more but gets tested more. Below 10-delta the credit rarely justifies the tail risk.
When should you exit an iron condor?
Exit at 50% of max profit or 21 days to expiration, whichever comes first. The 50% rule captures most of the theta while skipping the gamma-risk-heavy final weeks; the 21 DTE rule prevents holding through the window where small moves cause large P&L swings.
How much credit should an iron condor collect?
Target at least one-third of the wing width. A condor with $5-wide wings should collect $1.65 or more. Below that ratio, the max-loss-to-max-profit math requires win rates the strategy doesn't reliably deliver.
How do you adjust a tested iron condor?
When the underlying touches a short strike, roll the untested side closer to collect additional credit (turning the position toward an iron fly), reducing max loss. If the move continues, roll the whole position out in time for a credit, or close at your predefined loss limit — typically 1.5-2x the credit received.
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