diff --git a/Lib/traceback.py b/Lib/traceback.py
index 3b2cae7..faf593a 100644
--- a/Lib/traceback.py
+++ b/Lib/traceback.py
@@ -224,11 +224,12 @@
     if badline is not None:
         yield '    {}\n'.format(badline.strip())
         if offset is not None:
-            caretspace = badline.rstrip('\n')[:offset].lstrip()
+            caretspace = badline.rstrip('\n')
+            offset = min(len(caretspace), offset) - 1
+            caretspace = caretspace[:offset].lstrip()
             # non-space whitespace (likes tabs) must be kept for alignment
             caretspace = ((c.isspace() and c or ' ') for c in caretspace)
-            # only three spaces to account for offset1 == pos 0
-            yield '   {}^\n'.format(''.join(caretspace))
+            yield '    {}^\n'.format(''.join(caretspace))
     msg = value.msg or "<no detail available>"
     yield "{}: {}\n".format(stype, msg)