Use Min/Max Entry Premium

Updated: August 21, 20252 min read

1. Overview

The Use Min/Max Entry Premium feature in the Trade Template allows you to set a price range for the entire Combo. This ensures that a trade is only opened if the entry price falls within the defined limits.

This setting is optional and is particularly useful for more complex strategies with multiple Legs (e.g., Spreads, Iron Condors, or Butterflies). For single Legs, this setting doesn't make sense since the entry price can be directly limited at the Leg level via the "Use Price Range" feature (see: Search Criteria for Contracts).

2. How It Works

When you enable the Use Min/Max Entry Premium option, you can define two values:

Min: The minimum price (lower limit)
Max: The maximum price (upper limit)

When opening the trade, the entire Combo is valued once. If the determined premium falls within the defined range, the trade is executed. If the value is outside the range, the trade is automatically set to CANCELED and not executed.

3. Meaning of the Signs

OptionsApp always interprets the inputs as buy orders. Therefore:

Negative values = Credit (you receive a premium)
Positive values = Debit (you pay a premium)

Examples:

Credit Trade: Min = -6.00; Max = -2.00:
Trade is only opened if the Combo generates a premium between 2.00 and 6.00 USD.

Debit Trade: Min = 0.00; Max = 5.00:
Trade is only opened if the Combo costs a maximum of 5.00 USD.

Mixed Range: Min = -2.00; Max = +2.00:
Both Credit and Debit trades up to 2.00 USD are allowed.

4. Distinction from Search Criteria

Important: Use Min/Max Entry Premium is not a search criterion.

The Legs are still determined based on the defined search criteria (e.g., Delta, Premium, Offset).
Only after the Legs are selected is it checked whether the total price of the Combo falls within the Min/Max limits.
If the determined entry price is outside the defined range, the trade is not opened.
The trade status automatically changes to CANCELED.

For more information about available search criteria, see the article Search Criteria for Legs.