Married call

A married call (also called a synthetic long put) is shorting 100 shares of stock and simultaneously buying 1 call option as upside protection. It mirrors the married put in reverse: bearish on the stock with a capped loss if the stock rallies instead. The payoff is identical to a long put.

Bias: Bearish with defined upside risk Risk profile: Defined max loss (call strike − short price + premium), large but capped profit (stock to zero) Ideal conditions: Short entry where you want a hard ceiling on losses, ahead of a binary event that could squeeze the stock

How it's constructed

• Short 100 shares of the underlying
• Buy 1 call option at the same time, typically ATM or slightly OTM
• Receive short proceeds, pay call premium

Setup example

You short 100 shares of XYZ at $100 and buy the $105 call for $2.

• Short proceeds: $10,000 (held as collateral)
• Call cost: $200
• Ceiling on losses: $105 + $2 = $107 (max loss $700 per 100 shares)
• Breakeven: $100 − $2 = $98
• Max profit: $98 × 100 = $9,800 (if stock goes to zero)

Max profit, max loss

When to use a married call

Best conditions:

• You're short a stock with an upcoming catalyst that could squeeze it (earnings, takeover rumor, short interest building)
• You want to keep the short position but cap the squeeze risk
• IV is reasonable so the call premium is not punitive

Married call vs long put

Identical payoff to a long put at the same strike. The married call is mostly used by traders who already hold the short position and want to add a hedge. For a pure bearish directional bet from scratch, a long put requires far less capital and has no short-interest borrow cost.

Related terms: Long put, short stock, protective call, synthetic put, hedging

Try it on Stryke: Use the Options Screener to find calls at your chosen strike and expiration.

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