Options education for put sellers — from foundational strategies to real-world playbooks when trades go sideways.
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Strategies
The core options income strategies behind ThetaLoop's research.
Cash-Secured Puts: Strategy, Win Rates, and Real Performance Data
95% win rate at 16-delta, 9.54% annualized over 32 years. Real data from CBOE and Tastytrade research.
Bull Put Spreads: Capital Efficiency, Win Rates, and Spread Width Math
19× capital efficiency vs. CSPs. Spread width math, win rates by delta, and broker margin comparison.
The Wheel Strategy: From Assignment to Systematic Income Loop
CSP → Assignment → Covered Calls → repeat. Full KO cycle, BXM index data, and why PTON destroyed the Wheel.
Covered Calls: 40 Years of BXM Data, Win Rates, and the Real Tradeoffs
BXM returned 8.5% vs S&P 11.1% over 40 years at 30% less volatility. ORATS 3.5M-combo backtest, tax traps, and Wheel Phase 3 math.
Market Concepts
Key market forces that drive options pricing and put-selling outcomes.
Theta Decay: The Real Numbers Behind Time Decay in Options
A $50 ATM option loses $0.017/day at 60 DTE but $0.153/day at 1 DTE. The real decay curve with Black-Scholes numbers.
The VIX Decoded: What Every Put Seller Needs to Know
Long-term average 19.5, mean reversion in days to weeks, 4.2-point risk premium. How to read VIX for put selling.
The 200-Day Moving Average: What 120 Years of Data Actually Show
120 years of data: half the drawdown of buy-and-hold, same returns. Golden cross 79% win rate.
Options Greeks for Put Sellers: Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega Explained
Delta for strike selection, theta as your income, gamma as the danger zone. With an AAPL walkthrough example.
IV Crush and Earnings: The Math Every Put Seller Needs
IV drops 30-60% overnight after earnings. Why 70% win rate hides tail risk — META lost $2,374/contract in one session.
Risk Management
How to size positions, manage losing trades, and handle assignment.
Position Sizing for Put Sellers: The Rules That Prevent Portfolio Destruction
Why 3-5% per position, 50-70% deployment, 2-3 per sector. Three real crashes prove the math.
The Cash-Secured Put Delta Cheat Sheet — Win Rates, Premium, and Sizing
16-delta puts win 95% of the time, not 84%. Tastytrade & Spintwig data on 50,000+ trades. The complete delta cheat sheet with premium per tier.
How Much Capital Do You Need to Sell Cash-Secured Puts? Account Size Guide
How much capital you really need: $4,500 minimum, $25K viable, $50K comfortable. Tier-by-tier breakdown with IRA, margin, and BPS alternatives.
Rolling Cash-Secured Puts: When It Works, When to Stop, and the Real Math
Improves win rates from 73% to 78%. Three roll types, break-even math, and when to stop rolling.
Options Assignment: What Actually Happens When You Get Assigned
Only 7-10% of options are exercised. What happens in your account, T+1 settlement, and the tax math.
ThetaLoop Tools
How our research tools work and what the numbers mean.
How the X-Ray Score Works — Scoring Methodology
How the X-Ray Score combines regime, momentum, volatility, and price action.
What We Use AI For (and What We Don't): Inside ThetaLoop's Research Pipeline
Words are AI; numbers are code. Where Gemini drafts narrative paragraphs and where deterministic rules decide every score, strike, and exit.
Trade in trouble?
Playbooks — When Trades Go Wrong
Data-backed decision frameworks for trades in trouble. Not theory — concrete math and real scenarios.
Earnings Gap Repair — Damage Control When IV Crush Kills Your Short Put
IV crush after earnings kills 30–60% of extrinsic. Why rolling is a trap post-earnings and which of three moves minimizes damage — with META, NFLX, SNAP case studies.
Deep ITM Put (>12% ITM) — Emergency Protocol When Rolling Breaks Down
Put 15%+ ITM with near-zero extrinsic? The emergency protocol nobody covers — when to close, when assignment beats rolling, and the opportunity cost proof.
Rolling Degradation — The P/L Waterfall Nobody Shows You
$0.30 roll credit on $5K capital for 45 days = 4.9% annualized. A fresh trade earns 12–20%. The P/L waterfall and stop-rolling checklist with data-backed thresholds.
After Assignment — The First 48 Hours Playbook
Assigned at $55, stock at $40. The covered call dig-out math: $41 CC = 7–8 months, $50 CC = 3 years. When selling immediately beats wheeling.
When to Cut Losses — The Math Behind Letting Go
A 50% loss needs 100% to recover. 54% of stocks never return to peak. The 6-question checklist and opportunity cost formula for every losing position.
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