Hari Swaminathan – Backspreads, Diagonals and Butterflies – Advanced Options Strategies

Backspreads, Diagonals and Butterflies – Advanced Strategies is an advanced options spreads course created by Hari Swaminathan, built for traders who already understand calls, puts, and basic spreads and now want to operate with more precision.

It combines three higher-level structures—backspreads, diagonals (including double diagonals), and butterfly spreads—into a single learning path centered on positioning logic, Greeks awareness, and practical adjustments.

The goal is not prediction. It is to help you build spreads with intention, define risk before entry, and understand how time and volatility can change the trade.

Trading involves risk, and this material is educational: it is a framework for decision-making, not a promise of outcomes.

What is the Backspreads, Diagonals and Butterflies – Advanced Strategies course about?

This course brings together three advanced option spread families that many traders hear about but do not consistently apply: backspreads, diagonals, and butterflies. It is organized into three main sections, each focused on how the spread is constructed, how it behaves, and what adjustments are commonly used when price moves against you.

In the backspreads section, the course clarifies the difference between a backspread and a ratio spread by focusing on contract imbalance. When you have more long options than short options, the structure is a backspread. When you have more short options than long options, it becomes a ratio spread, which can introduce unlimited loss on one side. The training emphasizes backspreads while cautioning against ratio spreads due to the risk profile.

In the diagonals section, the course positions a diagonal spread as a variation of the calendar time spread. The diagonal uses different expirations and different strikes, which can reduce vega exposure compared to a standard calendar spread, but it also introduces a delta bias and can carry higher risk. A key concept covered is adjustment: converting a diagonal into a double diagonal on the losing side to expand the profit zone and increase the size of the max-profit area.

In the butterfly section, the course describes the butterfly as a low-risk, high-reward, low-probability strategy that can be challenging to manage due to its multi-leg structure. Instead of framing it as a daily income routine, the course highlights specific tactical applications, including using a butterfly to hedge or protect the losing side of positions such as iron condors or credit spreads, and planning butterfly usage around events like earnings.

Across all three strategies, the theme is consistent: understand the structure, understand the Greeks that drive it, and learn when adjustments make sense so you do not manage trades emotionally.

What will you learn?

• How to distinguish a backspread from a ratio spread, and why contract imbalance changes tail risk.
• How to construct backspreads in different configurations using strike selection and long-to-short ratios.
• How to think about backspreads through the Greeks, including why they are often treated as volatility-sensitive structures.
• How to identify the “valley of death” risk area in backspread setups and how to plan around it.
• What diagonals are, how they differ from calendar spreads, and why they are often considered more exotic.
• Why diagonals can reduce the impact of vega compared to calendars, while still carrying delta bias and higher risk.
• How to approach diagonal adjustments, including converting to a double diagonal on the losing side.
• How butterflies are built with three option legs, why management can be harder, and when butterflies can be useful.
• How butterflies can be used as tactical “protection” tools, including hedging losing sides and planning around earnings scenarios.

Who is it for?

This course is for options traders with solid fundamentals who want to expand into advanced spreads with more control. If you understand calls and puts, have experience with vertical spreads, and have worked with basic spread adjustments, you will be aligned with the level of the material.

It is also a fit for busy professionals who prefer structured strategies that reward planning and rules over constant screen time. Backspreads, diagonals, and butterflies are presented as spreads where preparation and risk definitions matter more than reactive trading.

If you are new to options, you will likely benefit from starting with a foundations course first. This program expects you to already understand how multi-leg positions behave and why risk changes when you add short exposure.

How does it work?

The course is organized into three strategy sections: backspreads, diagonals (and double diagonals), and butterflies. You move from structure and definitions into Greek-based behavior, then into practical adjustment logic.

The course listing indicates the content is delivered in English and was last updated in 12/2019. Use that as a cue to focus on the durable parts of the training: structure, Greeks behavior, adjustment logic, and scenario planning, rather than expecting any single “tactic” to work forever without judgment.

A practical way to implement the learning is to create a checklist per strategy. For a backspread, you define thesis, identify the valley-of-death zone, and map volatility sensitivity before entry. For diagonals, you confirm your calendar-spread foundation, then choose strike and expiration spacing that matches your directional bias and risk tolerance. For butterflies, you emphasize scenario planning: what price area you are targeting, what event risk exists, and how you will manage the position if price drifts away.

Because these strategies are adjustment-heavy, the best approach is to practice with small sizing (or on paper), document trades, and review outcomes so you refine selection criteria over time.

Benefits

The primary benefit is strategic range. Instead of relying on one style of options trade, you learn three advanced structures that behave differently across volatility regimes and price movement patterns, helping you choose a structure that fits conditions rather than forcing one tool into every market.

You also gain clearer risk language. Concepts like unbalanced exposure, vega differences between calendars and diagonals, and the probability profile of a butterfly become practical decision levers rather than abstract theory.

Finally, this course emphasizes planned management. When you know how a diagonal can be converted to a double diagonal, or when a butterfly can act as a hedge, you reduce reactive decision-making and improve consistency.

Prerequisites

The course expects familiarity with options basics (calls and puts) and vertical spreads. It also assumes you have experience with options adjustments and spread adjustments.

Calendar spreads are recommended knowledge before applying diagonals, and credit spreads are recommended knowledge before applying butterfly concepts.

You should have an options-enabled brokerage account that supports multi-leg spreads and a defined risk plan per trade. This is educational content and does not eliminate market risk.

About the author

Hari Swaminathan is an options mentor and financial markets educator and is publicly associated with OptionTiger, an options education and mentoring brand. His broader teaching focuses on building structure around options strategies and understanding how volatility, time decay, and adjustments influence outcomes.

This course reflects that approach by prioritizing how spreads behave, why specific risks appear, and how to think about adjustments without improvisation.

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Course curriculum

• Section I: Backspreads and ratio spreads, including unbalanced spread philosophy, creative backspread construction, Greeks considerations, the “valley of death,” and why ratio spreads are discouraged due to risk.
• Section II: Diagonals and double diagonals, including how diagonals differ from calendars, vega reduction and delta bias, adjustment difficulty, and converting to a double diagonal to expand the profit zone.
• Section III: Butterfly spreads, including low-risk and potentially high-reward structure, probability profile, adjustments, and tactical applications such as hedging losing sides and planning around earnings events.

Access the course now if you want a structured path to advanced option spreads that emphasizes risk design, Greeks awareness, and disciplined adjustments.

Downloadable Course Content