This really, REALLY, makes me want to sell low delta calls for a very long time....

I am on my 4th cycle of Tasty style selling 45DTE QQQ strangles way OTM. It has gone well but of course everything I hear and read is that I will blow up eventually. I would rather not blow up so I add some crash protection.

I would like to scale this up a bit more. Looking for advice on whether it is appropriate to bump my size or not.

$200K account.

My current position.

- Sold 6 QQQ strangles for Aug 31. Sold at 45 DTE 615 Put/ 765 Call for 6.86. Index at 700ish. IVR 74. $4100 total credit (8% of BP) BP is 8600 per or $51600

They were like 13 delta IIRC (wider than tasty suggests) . Plan is to exit at 55% profit at 21 DTE or before. Of course the potential max loss is massive

For some "crash protection" and because I expect to be out or adjust by 21DTE, I purchased 3 further out put spreads and 3 naked calls for Aug 7 expiration. 600/500 put spreads for .53 each and 780 Calls for .09 each. Probably should have done Aug 10. Total Insurance cost under $200. Of course this does not cover all my losses in a very extreme 10%+ crash but it will help. It is not really going to help much at all in a "moderate crash" of 5-8% unless it happens very quickly. Just really trying to mitigate worst case scenarios.

I would really rather buy the protection in a lower vol index like SPX but I haven't figured out if that is feasible or what the ratios or correct strikes would be. I try to exit at 55% of premium collected instead of suggested 50 to "pay for" the insurance in my mind. This has been possible so far.

Also I do not adjust the untested side closer nearly as aggressively as tasty suggests. I do some. I am not obsessed with collecting more premium on a position I have already put on. When I do adjust I often take much of the premium collected from rolling the untested side and roll the tested side out a bit. (same expiration) I like feeling balanced more than I like to squeeze extra premium out.

I want to jump up to 10 lots and then keep scaling at about 50% of the account used for BP. Which seems high when I type it.

Is that reasonable? How is this going to blow up? If you think it will eventually blow up.....Would buying equal contracts for protection prevent that? Feel free to be harsh with your critique.

I've been selling options for a few years now and seeing consistent, solid returns. As long as I exercise good risk management, I can see this becoming a long-term strategy to compound wealth and consistently beat the market.

But this naturally led me to wonder: Is this too good to be true?

I'm confident in the strategy and my execution capability, but I want to make sure I'm not missing any major blind spots. If systematic option selling offers market-beating returns, why isn't every professional/institutional investor doing it? They have far more knowledge, capital, talent, and resources than retail investors.

It blows my mind seeing people throw around complex indicators, high-level strategies all the time, only to post 10–15% returns, make $200k a year, or lose money altogether. I'm like, what?

Do they stay away because they know something we don't, or are they actually doing it?

How cooked did your portfolio get? How much did you lose and where are you at now?

Ok so Im looking at taking a position in UWMC. Its currently trading around $1.88 and it pays a quarterly dividend of $.10. If I wanted to sell some out of the money calls against my shares to generate a little extra money, how does that work with dividends?

They usually announce the dividend in early August, the date of record is in early september, and the pay date is in early october. Lets say I sell some August 21st $2C options. So expiration falls after the announcement date, but before the ex-dividend date. There's probably no chance I get assigned early unless the stock price goes over $2 right?

But if I sold calls with an expiration date after the ex-dividend date theres a chance I might get assigned early if the stock is trading at say $1.95 because of the $.10 dividend right?

Im just trying to wrap my head around how this all works with dividends and selling options so any information, insight, or resources you can share are appreciated.

Also this trading is all happening inside of a roth IRA so Im not concerned about getting assigned and creating a taxable event.

Thank you in advance for your help!

I would like to open an account with Consorsbank for selling CCs and CSPs on major tickers, like $100-$250 strikes.

What bothers me right now and decides if I should go to Interactive Brokers instead, is if Consorsbank indeed counts margin on CSPs or it's just a "safety net for regulations" but as long as you have the cash in your account to cover CSPs, your margin limit won't matter? There are contradictory claims in various forums on reddit and on X.

Also, if I go instead to Interactive Brokers, I need to do my taxes by hand; especially the FIFO on USD/EUR back and forth calculations bothers me. How do you handle it for the Finanzamt?

Feel sorry for anyone who has been selling calls.

Is Tom Snossoff’s. .30d 45DTE guidelines for theta sellers still a good starting basis or is there a hip new trend?

For ICs on XSP/SPX/SPY how many days till expiry are people doing and at what delta?

Doc and Junior would like to thank the investors who participated and provided $3,736 in cash flow for the options expiring on 24JUL2026.

Cash-secured PUT: OSCR, BB, PL, NOK, INTC, and CLOV

Covered CALL: MES

Naked CALL: LCID

Bear CALL Spread: POET

How much in premiums did you collect for this Friday's expiry?

Trades I took today as an option seller (07/21):

New Positions

• FORM → $95 Put expiry 08/21 (5 weeks DTE), premium 8.40 → 840/9500 = ~8.8%. I already had a Sold Put Position with a strike at $105. Opened another position today. Makes testing equipment for semiconductor chips. Premiums are higher as earnings are due on 07/29.
• SEI → $60 Put expiry 08/21 (5 weeks DTE), premium 4.60 → 460/6000 = ~7.7%. Energy infrastructure supplying power generation for oilfield operations. Premiums are higher as earnings are due on 08/05.

The Excel file to my full list of positions is linked in my profile description in case anyone wants to see the whole portfolio. Happy to hear thoughts on my positions. What are you guys wheeling or watching right now?

PS: Not financial advice. Do your own research.

Keep it friendly and civil; this is not WSB and automod will censor your posts at will for unsavory and unfriendly remarks. Try to keep shit posting and bragging to a minimum.

Trades I took today as a systematic option seller (07/20):

Assigned Positions

• AMKR → $80 Put
• FLNC → $21 Put
• TTMI → $165 Put
• VICR → $320 Put
• TE → $8 Put

New Positions

• ACMR → $80 Put expiry 07/24 (1 week DTE), premium 3.10 → 310/8000 = ~3.9%. Opened new position in ACMR. Designs and manufactures semiconductor wafer cleaning and packaging equipments.
• CRDO → $165 Put expiry 07/31 (2 weeks DTE), premium 5.00 → 500/16500 = ~3%. Builds high-speed connectivity chips used inside AI datacenters.
• BE → $165 Put expiry 07/31 (2 weeks DTE), premium 11.20 → 1120/16500 = ~6.8%. Support at $165.
• MOD → $220 Put expiry 08/21 (5 weeks DTE), premium 21.50 → 2150/22000 = ~9.8%. New Position. Manufactures heat transfer and cooling equipments.
• AMKR → $80 Call expiry 08/21 (5 weeks DTE), premium 2.55 → 255/8000 = ~3.2%. I was assigned at $80.
• FLNC → $20 Call expiry 08/21 (5 weeks DTE), premium 0.85 → 85/2000 = ~4.2%. I was assigned at $21.
• TTMI → $165 Call expiry 08/21 (5 weeks DTE), premium 6.00 → 600/17500 = ~3.4%. I was assigned at $175.
• VICR → $280 Call expiry 08/21 (5 weeks DTE), premium 17.30 → 1730/32000 = ~5.4%. I was assigned at $320. Stock has its earnings due tomorrow. If it shoots up, I will roll and adjust to get the contract back to assigned price of $320.
• TE → $8 Call expiry 08/21 (5 weeks DTE), premium 0.42 → 42/800 = ~5.2%. Assigned at $8.
• ISSC → $20 Call expiry 08/21 (5 weeks DTE), premium 1.40 → 140/2000 = ~7%. Assigned at $20.

My view on the market

Market under consolidation after a big fall in Semiconductors and AI stocks. It is a wait and watch for me. I continue wheeling my stocks till the market recovers.

I use the ThetaHedge app to identify high quality wheel tickers. Because of stock selection, even after the market fall I am able to earn good premiums in Calls while running the wheel. You can find the wheel rank and 3 month historical return of tickers in the ThetaHedge app ( https://app.thetahedge.io/ ).

I keep sharing my daily trades in my account and the Excel file to my full list of positions is linked in my profile description. Happy to hear thoughts on my positions. What are you guys wheeling or watching right now?

PS: Not financial advice. Do your own research.

You don't have to predict every move in the S&P 500. Sometimes it's enough to consistently sell premium on $MES, manage risk, and let theta work every day. Many futures option traders view this less as a classic wheel and more as systematically selling premium around a futures position, since the underlying is a leveraged futures contract rather than stock ownership.

Micro E-mini S&P 500 futures are highly liquid and trade nearly 24 hours a day. They have favorable U.S. tax treatment for many traders.

What are the advantages and risks from your point of view?

Keep it friendly and civil; this is not WSB and automod will censor your posts at will for unsavory and unfriendly remarks. Try to keep shit posting and bragging to a minimum.

Keep it friendly and civil; this is not WSB and automod will censor your posts at will for unsavory and unfriendly remarks. Try to keep shit posting and bragging to a minimum.

I will post a separate comment with a link to the detail behind each option sold this week.

After week 29, the average premium per week is $908 with an annual projection of $47,191.

All things considered, the portfolio is up $1,626 (+0.36%), on the year (S&P 500: +8.94% | Nasdaq: +9.80%). Additionally, the trailing 1-year performance is up $7,877 (+1.78%); for comparison the S&P 500 is +18.43% and the Nasdaq is +22.19% over the same period. This is the overall profit and loss and includes options and all other account activity.

Annual results:
• 2023 up $65,403 (+41.31%) | S&P 500: +26.3% | Nasdaq: +43.4%
• 2024 up $64,610 (+29.71%) | S&P 500: +25.0% | Nasdaq: +28.6%
• 2025 up $111,496 (+34.52%) | S&P 500: +17.9% | Nasdaq: +20.4%

3-Year Cumulative (2023–2025):
• r/ExpiredOptions: +146.6% ($241,509)
• S&P 500: +86.1% (+60.4% behind)
• Nasdaq: +122.0% (+24.5% behind)

Options:
• YTD: $9,639.83
• 1 Month: $-14,459.50
• 1 Week: $-8,418.82

Realized P&L:
• YTD: $42,774.84
• 1 Month: $22,733.01
• 1 Week: $475.00

All options sold are backed by cash, shares, or LEAPS. I do not sell on margin, nor do I sell naked options.

All options and profits stay in the account with few exceptions. This is not my full time job, although I wish it was. I still grind on a 9-5.

My $600 weekly contribution streak is at 18 weeks, but I am pausing new contributions until next month.

The portfolio is comprised of 103 unique tickers, up from 101 last week. These 103 tickers have a value of $452k. I also have 196 open option positions, unchanged from 196 last week. The options have a total value of $20k. The total of the shares and options is $472k. The next goal on the "Road to" is Half a Million.

I'm currently utilizing $35,600 in cash secured put collateral, down from $36,650 last week.

2025 through 2028 LEAPS
In addition to the CSPs and covered calls, I purchase LEAPS. These act as collateral to sell covered calls against. You may have heard of poor man's covered calls (PMCC).

See r/ExpiredOptions for a detailed spreadsheet update on all LEAPS positions including P/L for each individual position.

LEAPS note 1: the 2025 LEAPS expired 1/17/25. They were up $36,440 overall with a 233.74% increase. The major drivers were AMZN and CRWD.

LEAPS note 2: After holding for 2 years, I exercised an AMZN $80 strike from 2023 up +$11,395 (+463.21%) and CRWD $95 strike from 2023, up +$21,830 (+663.53%)

LEAPS note 3: Purchased 1/16/26 CRWD LEAPS for $8,230.03 on 1/17/24. I sold this LEAPS on 6/5/25 for $21,659 for a realized profit of $13,428.97 (+163.18%)

Total premium by year:
• 2023 $23,132 in premium
• 2024 $47,640 in premium
• 2025 $68,319 in premium
• 2026 $26,405 YTD
• Average $46,364/year (completed years)

Premium by month (2026):
• January $3,334
• February $3,625
• March $4,196
• April $5,593
• May $3,787
• June $3,497
• July $2,407
• Average $3,777/month

I am over $166k in total options premium, since 2021. I average roughly $34 per option sold. I have sold over 4,800 options. I have been able to increase the premiums on an annual basis and I will attempt to keep this upward trend going forward.

Strategy:
The underlying strategy is buy and hold. I also use simple 1-legged options to supplement that strategy. Options have somewhat of a learning curve, but I believe that most people can supplement their investments using simple options with careful risk management.

I sell options on a weekly basis. I prefer cash secured puts and covered calls. I rarely close early, prefer rolling when needed, and let time decay do the heavy lifting while I stay focused on quality companies, patience, and consistency over hype. My goal is consistency in option premium revenue. I am building an income stream that will continue long into retirement.

Spreadsheets:
Unfortunately, I no longer provide spreadsheets. I received too many follow ups about formatting, pivot tables, compatibility etc. I think tracking is very important, but I post to discuss investing and options, not to provide tech support for Excel. I do appreciate the interest in my tracking methods.

Software:
I captured the screen shots from a proprietary software platform I built to track, analyze, and manage my options strategies.

Commissions:
I use Robinhood as a broker and they do not charge explicit commissions, though there is no free lunch — they earn revenue through Payment for Order Flow (PFOF), which can mean slightly less optimal fills. For my style of selling options and not chasing prices, the tradeoff is acceptable. There is also a small regulatory fee of approximately $0.03–$0.04 per contract (FINRA TAF, OCC clearing, and exchange fees combined).

The premiums have increased significantly as my experience has expanded over the last three years.

Make sure to post your wins. I look forward to reading about them!

Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. This information is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Trading options involves significant risk.

Not associated with this guy - I refuse to pay $1000s but I must admit his content is pretty solid.

Best vid I’ve seen on the wheel strategy.

https://youtu.be/iK1pLhmHe0E?is=vrgVWY48VTqUmSQx

If not allowed please delete.

No like and subscribe
No annoying background music
No stupidly generated AI thumbnails
No stock footage cut outs

Finally a YouTuber that gets it.

Rklb
Asts
Rdw
Mda
Lunr
Pl

With the down so much Zz we can’t get theta right ?

I want to buy calls for these to rebound say end of March

I wana buy $25 pl, $70 asts? 35 mda, rdw $10, rklb $75

Thoughts ? This is 30 dte

And if you hold these are waiting to sell calls ?

Puts on the S&P7 should have juicy premiums now

Keep it friendly and civil; this is not WSB and automod will censor your posts at will for unsavory and unfriendly remarks. Try to keep shit posting and bragging to a minimum.

Doc and Junior would like to thank the investors who participated and provided $39,851 in cash flow for the options expiring on 21AUG2026.

Cash-secured PUT: AFRM, BB, BYND, CENX, CGX.tsx, CLOV, DUOL, FIRY, HYLN, LAR, OPEN, and UWMC

Long CALL: BB

Covered CALL: BYND and CVE

Naked CALL: CENX, GDXJ, FIRY, SMCI, TMF, and TMV

Bear CALL Spread: LCID

How much in premiums did you collect for the August expiry?

Week 7: $573 on $53,800 invested

Week 8: $811 on $70,400 invested.

Week 9: $1093 on $103,450 invested

Week 10: $1040 on $97,400 invested

Week 11: $1077 on $102,800 invested.

Week 12: $1170 made on $98,600 invested

Week 12.5: Bonus round: $475 extra made increasing investment to $106,100

Week 13: $1,133 on $106,100 invested

Week 13.5 Bonus Round: $336 extra made increasing investment to $115,900

Week 14: $1,053 on $105,750

Week 15: $1,146 on $110,700

Week 16: $1,105 on $111,850 invested

Week 17: $1045 on $108,350 invested. Got SLV 65.5 assigned.

Week 18: $1126 on 111,550 invested

Week 19: $1,111 on $102,850 invested

Week 19 Bonus: extra $98 from increasing investment to $108550

Week 20: $842 from $104,350 invested.

See my post from yesterday - https://www.reddit.com/r/thetagang/s/QEZDxZWZDw Last week's post: https://www.reddit.com/r/thetagang/s/5jlWIYk7R2

There has been some criticism of my calculations or returns. So I will go look up the results of weeks 1-6 and then also add in the negative value of the options and compute total returns next week.

Strategy: Roll puts already sold or open new positions from the low delta list from screener. Try to get 1% to roll at or below screener price (or at least at or below existing strike). If not possible, roll for minimum credit to same or lower price. Always credit though. Screener results from earlier today:

Trades: