Additional Thoughts
Vertical spreads can be a cost-effective way to establish directional exposure and limit your risk. I personally don't enjoy trading them, however, due to their directional dependency and lack of probabilistic edge. In my experience, picking market direction correctly is extremely difficult. There are plenty of other strategies that don't rely so heavily on a directional bet, and I am much more inclined to favor those. Most importantly, long verticals don't offer any defensive tactics other than defining risk at trade entry. If you lose, you lose, and there's nothing you can do to fight back. I prefer strategies that allow for greater fluidity and countermeasures in the event that things go wrong.
Even though I don't like trading long verticals on their own, I often embed them into other strategies with higher odds of success. For this reason, it is extremely important to understand how they work. On their own, they can be frustrating and unreliable. When used as a component of a more complex strategy, however, they are powerful tools. I will show you how they can be used in this manner farther down the road.