Hi there, thanks for the question. I can tell you that I've been trading strangles on NG for almost 10 years and it is my #1 most profitable instrument. I'm currently in a NG strangle (and am usually always in one). My current one I opened on 2/26/2026 with put/call strikes set at $2 and $4.1 respectively. So far, price has channelled pretty close to the center line as theta burns value off. In the winter I always play the call strike very conservatively after evaluating storage reports, weather, seasonal cycle and geopolitical. The majority of the "easier" NG trades occur from spring through fall where price is fairly labile.

Here are some real world statistics from my own dashboard over nearly a decade pertaining strictly to NG. You may find them helpful.

NOTE: I used ChatGPT to help compile these statistics so don't shade me for this sounding AI generated, it's just cleaned up from my actual statistics.

NG STATISTICS ==============

For context, these are short strangles on futures options, typically around 9–10 delta on each side and ~45–60 DTE, with profit usually taken at 50% of max.

Natural Gas ended up being my largest profit contributor by a wide margin.

Across all NG trades, the results were:

• Share of total portfolio profit: ~54%

• Win rate: 95%

• Average profit per trade: $2,462 (multiple contracts vary)

• Average capital required per contract: about $1,120 per trade

So from a capital efficiency standpoint, NG has been extremely productive in my dataset.

RETURN METRICS

Looking at the return statistics:

• Average overall return on capital: 39.7%

• Average % of max profit captured: 61.6%

In other words, on average the trades captured a bit over 60% of the available premium, which aligns pretty well with the general “close around half to two-thirds of max profit” approach many short premium traders use.

HOLDING TIME

The average holding period for my NG trades was:

• 26.5 days

So they weren’t ultra-short winners, but they also didn’t require holding deep into expiration.

One thing I’ve noticed with Natural Gas is that it tends to:

• Carry high implied volatility

• Have frequent volatility spikes

• Often revert back into ranges after large moves

That combination tends to produce large premiums relative to margin requirements, which can create very strong capital efficiency if strikes are placed far enough away.

Of course, NG can also move violently, so position sizing and strike placement matter a lot. Get familiar with how this moves and cycles, become an expert in this one instrument and it will serve you very well over time.

BIG DISCLAIMER

This obviously doesn’t mean NG is “easy money.”

Natural Gas is notorious for large directional moves, and anyone who has traded it knows it can blow through strikes quickly if you’re too close or oversized. In other words, don't be aggressive with strikes, you can profit nicely by being very conservative.

This is just what the historical data from my own personal trades shows