Ratio vertical spreads (Buy less Sell more) are the most infamous of all spreads because they are strategies that often ruin traders. Trading them is like playing hot potato with a time bomb. The object is to not be holding it when it explodes. Huge wealth has been created with these plays over the years, sometimes only to be donated back to the market all in one day, with bankruptcy proceedings to recoup any amount that exceeds the trader’s capital, his or her family’s capital, the investors’ capital, and the trader’s houses, computers, cars, yachts, airplanes, motorcycle, and children. Most traders like to trade them for a credit, so that if both options go worthless they can keep the credit. That modus operandi is penny-wise and pound-foolish.