Iron condors are one of tastytrade's commonly used defined risk strategies. But how do they perform when we look at specific market environments?

Study

• Compared Iron Condors with short 30 delta options and long wings $5, $10, and $20 wide
• All trades managed at 50% of max profit
• 45 days to expiration
• S&P 500 (SPY)
• 2005 to present

Results

The Research Department uncovered that in high and low IV Rank environments, the wider Iron Condor outperforms. However, in times of extreme selloff like 2008, the narrower Iron Condor outperforms because the wide IC was exposed to larger losses, as its long strikes were further away.