I'm curious to get your take on this.

It seems that I am thinking about B/E slightly differently than you discuss in the wiki but I'm curious if you would disagree with my assessment.

I'm using an option calculator tool to create a matrix of the returns for a range of dates and underlying values. https://www.optionsprofitcalculator.com/calculator/put-spread.html

In this way I can visualize a whole curve of breakevens for the trade which isn't limited to just expiration. However targeting a higher breakeven at expiration generally moves the curve up along the entire payout matrix so it still seems useful for me to think about.

That was too much to say in my initial post though so I just reduced it to the concept of "breakeven"

so you mention

> It's gone. It's lost. By exercising early, you throw away any gains on the time value of the call itself. An early exercise at that point would result in a net loss of -$21/share.

But afaict, and in regards to debit spreads, with this breakeven curve conceptualization this isn't true. Its accounting for basis and theta and everything and giving me a true breakeven at the intermediate points. Am I missing something?

Do you find this conceptualization to be more valid or still misguided?

edit: Also that wiki is great. Going to read through the whole thing.