David Chau
David Chau, also known as Captain Condor, is an American options trader who is the founder of the financial education platform InsideOptions. He gained attention due to unusually large and risky options positions placed by him and his group of followers. His trading strategy suffered a $50 million loss, wiping out many investors in December 2025.
Early life and education
Chau was born in 1993. He is a college dropout.Career
Chau began his career as a retail trader, eventually transitioning into professional options trading with a specialization in non-directional strategies such as the iron condor.In 2020, Chau launched InsideOptions to teach options trading to retail traders. He became known for executing large-scale options trades, frequently mirrored by members of the InsideOptions community. His trading system has been compared to the martingale betting strategy.
Chau gained media attention for placing high-volume trades on the S&P 500 index options, which, together with trades by his group of followers, in some cases were large enough to influence market movements. His followers refer to him by the nickname "Captain Condor" due to his use of the iron condor options strategy.
In 2023, Chau expanded into fund management by forming SPX Program Fund LP under the firm SPX MGMT LLC, where he serves as chief investment officer.