The X-Ray Score is a quantitative put-selling research indicator on a 1-10 scale. This page documents the full scoring methodology — how multiple market dimensions are aggregated into a single number that reflects how a stock currently ranks for Cash-Secured Put research. It is not a recommendation to trade — it is a research filter to narrow down the curated watchlist to the strongest current candidates.
The score evaluates stocks for Cash-Secured Put strategies — selling put options backed by cash to collect premium income.
💡 Try it live: Open the Position Size & Yield Calculator on AAPL — drag sliders for account, strike, premium, and DTE to see exactly how the math works for any ticker.
The Four Core Dimensions
Regime — Whether the stock trades above (Bullish) or below (Bearish) its 200-day moving average. Put-selling performs significantly better in bullish regimes because trend acts as a tailwind. Stocks below their SMA200 receive a score penalty. Read more about SMA200.
SMA200 Distance — How far the current price sits from the 200-day average, expressed as a percentage. A stock 15% above its SMA200 is in a strong uptrend. A stock barely above it might be on the edge. Extreme distances in either direction reduce the score because they signal overextension.
Volatility — Current price volatility relative to the stock's own historical norm. High volatility means richer premiums but also higher assignment risk. Low volatility means thin premiums but more predictable behavior. The score rewards balanced volatility regimes. Learn more about how volatility drives options pricing.
Momentum — Direction and acceleration of recent price movement. Accelerating upward momentum earns a bonus; decelerating or turning momentum reduces the score. Momentum affects how quickly theta decay works in your favor.
Price Action Layer
Candlestick reversal patterns are detected on recent daily candles — Hammer, Morning Star, Bullish Engulfing, Doji at support, and others. Patterns found near SMA200 support receive additional weight because they often mark turning points. Bearish patterns (Black Cloud Cover, Hanging Man) reduce the score.
Final Assembly
All layers — plus additional proprietary adjustments — combine into a raw score which is then clipped to the 1.0-10.0 range and rounded to one decimal. The result:
- Score 8+ — Strong quantitative profile. Multiple dimensions align positively.
- Score 6-7 — Favorable conditions. Worth deeper research.
- Score 4-5 — Mixed signals. Additional due diligence required.
- Score 2-3 — Weak profile. Elevated risk for put-selling.
- Score 1 — Unfavorable across measured dimensions.
What the Score Does NOT Include
The X-Ray Score focuses on price-based technical dimensions. It does not include implied volatility rank, insider transactions, or fundamental valuation. Earnings risk windows are checked separately — see the earnings warning on individual ticker pages.
Daily Updates
Scores are recalculated every night after market close on the full curated watchlist of US-listed stocks. Past scores do not predict future outcomes. The methodology is fixed but the underlying data moves every session. Scores can shift significantly — a stock that scored 9 last week can drop to 4 today if its momentum turned.
How Closed Trades Are Priced
The X-Ray Score above is a forward-looking research filter. The public track record on the homepage and the Research Lab include CORE + BUILD research only. TACTICAL high-volatility research is excluded from their statistics and charts; every closed outcome with recorded P&L remains visible in the public trade ledger. The pricing rule used to book included exits deserves its own section.
Quotes, not midpoints. While a position is open, every 5 minutes during US market hours we capture the live bid and ask of the option contract. Those quotes are the raw material — not a broker midpoint at the moment of close, not a single end-of-day print, not a screenshot price published when a "closed" message was tweeted.
60/40 weighting. Every captured quote is weighted as (ask × 0.60) + (bid × 0.40). The result pulls toward the side a put-seller actually pays when buying back to close. For Bull Put Spreads, pricing follows the separately documented combo-limit model.
How thresholds are recorded. The weighted quote series determines when a take-profit or circuit-breaker threshold is crossed. Once crossed, the CSP result is booked at that predefined threshold rather than at the first observed quote beyond it. This keeps the rule deterministic and avoids midpoint assumptions.
The important limitation. Threshold booking is not an execution guarantee or a worst-case floor. A gap through take-profit is booked less favorably than the first lower observed quote; a gap through the circuit breaker is booked more favorably than the first higher observed quote. In fast, illiquid or stressed markets, a customer's actual close can therefore be worse than the published circuit-breaker result.
What the number represents. The track record is a reproducible research-signal record based on recorded quotes and fixed exit rules. It is not a brokerage statement, a portfolio return, or a promise that every customer could obtain the same fill.
The public trade ledger lists every closed outcome with recorded P&L, including excluded TACTICAL outcomes. Each row states whether it is included in the CORE + BUILD track record.
▸How is the ThetaLoop X-Ray Score calculated?
▸Does the X-Ray Score include fundamental data?
When setups pass the nightly filters, our daily research publishes cash-secured put setups — with strikes, risk metrics, and two delivery paths: Telegram live feed plus daily email report.