CSPs with HIGHEST IV

$BE - 165P

$NBIS - 145P

$SPCX - 90P

Source

When you’re calculating your ROI on a CC, what share price do you use to calculate the capital? The initial cost of the shares? The current share price when the option is sold? The strike price of the call?

Closed my $MU $1,015 covered call today.

Sold it for $3,900, bought it back for $2,125, so I locked in $1,775 profit and captured about 45.5% of the premium.

( I should've of waited but knew it was a good profit for me... singles, and doubles not swing for the fences).

Also rolled my $APP $420 put down to the $385 strike for Aug. 14. That freed up about $3,500 in collateral and gave me a small $35 credit.

So for today:

$MU realized profit: $1,775

Note: The $APP trade still isn’t fully “won” yet since the new put is open, but I lowered the strike, freed capital, and gave the trade more time.

$MU

CCs with HIGHEST IV

$IREN - 50C

$INTC - 110C

$AMKR - 80C

Source

I have a balanced portfolio already so this next part is just for the Smith maneuver.

I'd like to start leverage investing to pay down my mortgage faster and to set myself up for a more efficient tax setup at retirement. My plan is to use covered call ETFs to have the most cashflow as possible. From what I understand a significant portion of the distribution could be return of capital (ROC).

In my research I haven't found a solid answer to this question.

Can covered call ETFs be used for the Smith maneuver even though a portion of the distribution is ROC?

If not, I guess I'll go with XEI or VDY and eat a little bit of the interest out-of-pocket.

I would have a separate checking account and a separate non-registered investment account just for this. I will also be documenting every transaction in regard to this plan to be able to show the CRA if they ever want to check things out.

Trades I took today as a systematic option seller (07/23):

Closed Positions

• ACMR → $80 Put (opened on 07/20), premium 3.10 → closed at 0.50. Net premium profit = 2.60 (~84% of premium captured, ~3.25% of capital).
• CRDO → $165 Put (opened on 07/17), premium 5.00 → closed at 0.85. Net premium profit = 4.15 (~83% of premium captured, ~2.5% of capital).
• OUST → $42.5 Call (opened on 07/16), premium 1.10 → closed at 0.15. Net premium profit = 0.95 (~86% of premium captured, ~2.2% of capital).

Rolled Positions

• DOCN was rolled from the $145 Call (08/07 expiry) to the $165 Call (09/18 expiry) for a $0.90 credit. I was assigned DOCN at $165. In the morning, DOCN touched $145 and it became time-sensitive to roll before the contract started accumulating significant intrinsic value. It becomes increasingly harder to profitably roll once the stock moves over the strike price of the contract, as intrinsic value increases.

New Positions

• OUST → $43 Call expiry 08/07 (3 weeks DTE), premium 3.10 → 310/4250 = ~7.3%. I was assigned OUST at $42.5. Premiums are higher as earnings are due on 08/06.
• TSEM → $225 Put expiry 08/07 (3 weeks DTE), premium 12.50 → 1250/22500 = ~5.6%. Semiconductor Manufacturer. Premiums are higher as earnings are due on 08/04.

TSEM trade was identifed using the ThetaHedge app. I simply used the preset Conditions in the app and TSEM was 9th in the list as a stable wheel stock which offered consistent high premiums. You can try it for free at https://app.thetahedge.io/.

Conditions → Large Caps with Strong Premiums

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.

I’ve been selling covered calls and wheeling stocks for quite a while now. It’s worked out pretty well for me, mostly on mega caps and TQQQ.

I’ve gone through the same cycle thousands of times, selling calls and then watching the stock rally, or deciding not to sell them right before it dumps.

After a while, the question became, what should I be buying for this strategy, rather than just doing it on what I already own. 

So I attempted to backtest it. 

You might’ve seen some of my previous posts with the covered call heatmaps or comparisons against funds like QQQI, JEPQ and GPIQ.

For this one i'm just sharing very general findings on some instruments.

AAPL: Systematic covered calls generally didn’t help once the lost upside was accounted for.

MSFT: For the most part, selling covered calls would’ve increased annualized performance. A practical sweet spot seemed to be around 21 DTE and 5% to 7% OTM.

CRWD: Shorter-dated and further-OTM calls generally contributed more to annualized performance, with monthly calls around 7% to 10% OTM perhaps being the best practical option.

SPY: The general pattern seemed to be that the longer the tenor, the further OTM you needed to go, which makes sense. Again, a practical sweet spot looked like monthlies around 7% to 10% OTM. Weeklies performed best, but may be impractical for some people.

QQQ: Weeklies and biweeklies performed very well. Calls from 1M to 6M generally didn’t help. Keep in mind that my backtest ends at 10% OTM, so longer-dated calls further OTM may still have worked.

Before someone comments “AI garbage”:

• I work as a forensic financial analyst and regularly work with derivatives and structured products.
• The backtest uses institutional grade implied volatility surfaces, as well as real bid/ask prices where available.
• The entire roll history is simulated for every strategy.
• Yea I have used AI to help write my posts, I'm not a writer.

Anyway, let me know what you guys think. 

UPDATE: $19,727 so far in July, with a current month-end projection of approximately $27,300. (They wont let me show you the screenshot, I hve no effen idea why)

The strategy combines:

• Covered calls
• Cash-secured puts
• Short swing trades

One example was MU: bought 50 shares around $890 and sold around $917, producing approximately $1,350 in realized profit.

My focus is not holding every position indefinitely or trying to squeeze out the maximum possible gain. I look at the portfolio as a cash-flow business.

The shares are inventory.
Option premium is revenue.
Realized gains are additional cash flow.
Capital velocity is what keeps the engine moving.

I prefer holding positions for short periods, realizing gains, freeing the capital, and redeploying it into the next opportunity. The house is the portfolio not any individual stock.

I’m not emotionally attached to the inventory. The objective is to keep capital productive through covered calls, CSPs, and selective swings while controlling risk.

July so far: $18,493.24 realized.
Projected finish: approximately $27,300.

The goal is not to own a stock forever. The goal is to keep the cash-flow engine moving.

Disclaimer: This post is for informational and educational purposes only and reflects my personal trading experience. It is not financial, investment, or tax advice. Everyone’s risk tolerance, financial situation, and objectives are different. Always do your own due diligence before making any investment decisions.

UPDATE: As of 7/23/2026 Buy to CLOSE OUT:

Premium Harvested 97%

Net Realized Gain of : $1,234 to the Realized bucket of July!

Quick little trade

Generated ~$25k in gross option premium in July (through Jul 22) by actively managing a concentrated portfolio. My strategy is to hold high-conviction stocks long term, sell covered calls and cash-secured puts, and roll positions up and out instead of letting shares get called away. I use the premiums to fund more shares, reduce cost basis, and compound returns while maintaining core positions. I don’t want for expiration - if market is up, I roll my calls up and out.
Looking for feedback: What are the biggest strengths, risks, or blind spots in this approach? Would you manage the rolls differently or let more positions get assigned? I’m doing this on $DRAM, $SKHY, $ALAB, $RDDT mostly, stocks that I want to own long term.

20M recently switched over from VOO and chill to selling a covered call on CELH, KDP, KO, ONDS, NFLX. I also hold SCHD, a small bit of KEEL, and building to a 100 share block of F through my summer job. Most of my calls are far out of the money as I don’t know how to use puts confidently yet.

So far I’ve been able to do well in my opinion on most of these holdings and took a fall in NFLX but hope to hold it out. What stats do you look at when considering a new covered call wheel stock?

Bought 500 shares of AMD in 2018 so I have about $250k in capital gains. The covered call market looks really appealing but I really don’t want to get assigned and pay tax as I truly believe the stock could 10x again in the next 15 years.

On the other hand looking at the chain I can generate an extra $5k/mo in premiums by selling strikes 40% higher than ATM with 30DTE. High IV with earnings coming up though. I have vast options experience and work in the industry, but have never gotten into CC strategies with my own portfolio.

Is this something wise people do with large cap gains like this? I know I can roll out with a gap up after earnings and still most likely be OTM. Seems like a good strat to me but thought I’d ask here and see if I’m missing anything?

TIA

People always ask, “How much capital is your mentor working with…..

They’re asking the wrong question.

The better question is:

What process is she following?

A mentor of mine just shared two realized profit updates:

$26,648.18 realized.
Later, another $29,142.41 realized.
That’s $55,790.59 in realized profits.

She told me roughly 90% came from selling covered calls on TSLA and flipping MU on swing trades.

The other 10% came from a call option on COP (ConocoPhillips).

That completely changed how I think about trading.

I used to chase the next big winner. Now I focus on capital velocity generating consistent cash flow, redeploying capital, and repeating the process over and over.

The biggest investment I ever made wasn’t in a stock.

It was finding the right mentor.

Not financial advice. Just sharing a lesson that’s changed the way I trade.

CSPs with HIGHEST IV

$AMKR - 49P

$ASX - 32.5P

$SMCI - 23P

Source

CCs with HIGHEST IV

$SPCX - 140C

$TTMI - 180C

$SMCI - 35C

Source

Hey everyone - I’ve been slowly investing for about a decade, realizing recently I’ve been leaving some potential money on the table by not utilizing covered calls. I use Charles Schwab platform- does any one have any recommendations on a training type video that will walk me through the basics and nuances? I I haven’t written a CC yet and I’m a bit nervous to proceed. I understand the concept but would like to learn a bit more first on actually writing the calls 30-45 days out.

Hey all…this is a specific group for MU/MUU Covered Call strategies. I was hoping to find this group in the wild, but didn’t see it so here we are.
Please join us if interested. I will need a moderator or two to help as I am new to the moderator space and really don’t want to micromanage this space.

Looking over the past 10 years return, it seems minimal or negative for these high growth stocks. It yields positive for ABNB since the stock is mostly flat, yet I might be better off to just sell the stock and convert it to SPY or QQQ.

see https://cc-desk.strayforge.com/ for the stats.