I do CSP but I don't do the optionwheel thing. Sometimes I roll to a future date if I'm at a loss or close to loss. My success rate is around 80%. I pick the underlying stocks following a refining process that I'm still improving:
- Pick underlying stocks: I wrote a program to screen stocks based on some of my own formula and no earnings coming out before the expiration date (my formula calculates a value similar to IV so higher value implies higher premiums). Or sometimes I just pick the ones I'm more familiar with and repeatedly traded before;
- Further refining: Pick those with 1% – 1.5% biweekly premium. (Don't chase higher premiums and avoid pharmacy stocks. I've been bitten by those.)
- Then: Look at fundamentals. Select a few with good fundamentals or I'm confident / familiar with its financials.
- Next: Review technical charts and find the patterns that I like.
- Finally: ask Chatgpt if any meaningful events will happen before the expiration date (for example debt maturity). (Sometimes a future event will make the premium high)
At this point I'll have 3 – 5 stocks I'll sell CSP.
I close or roll the position if I the stock falls to near or below the striking, or I have 80%+ profit, or the premium for the rest of the days is too low to hold. I very rarely get assigned.
Tips:
- Don't chase high premiums.
- The game is in a way that you can win 10 times, but one loss could wipe most of the gains if not all, so need to be extra cautious with losing positions, epecially when the market is on a downhill where you have higher chance to loss.
- I trade in a margin account where my money is fully invested, and I use the margins to secure puts. The good thing is that you are not actually using the brokers money so it is interest free. So if you can boost your total return by a few percent with CSP that is still a win. The bad thing is that you have to be extra cautious with margins. I usually use a margin within 30% of my account value.
Posted by philofellowzhao
1 Comment
I totally screenshotted this to come back to haha I’m new(er) to options but I have noticed that the wheel strategy is super common (Youtube specifically).
This is a nice change of pace! Thanks for sharing!