Step 9 of 13
Income from options
Selling puts and calls against stock you would be happy to own — tracked as income, with assignments folding into your positions.
The wheel is a conservative options strategy for people who already want the shares. You sell a cash-secured put on a stock you would be glad to buy; if it never gets there you keep the premium, and if it does you own the stock at your strike. Then you sell covered calls against it until it is called away.
Quantic tracks the premium as income alongside your dividends, so your real yield reflects both. When a position is assigned, the shares land in your portfolio at the strike — and if you track that stock as trades, the assignment is recorded as a dated trade like any other.
There is also a screener for the other half of the question: which option to sell. It ranks candidates by company quality first and premium second — the opposite of most options screeners, which sort by the biggest payout and so surface the shakiest companies. For a put it shows what a share would really cost you if you were assigned and the yield on cost you would then own; for a call, whether the strike clears what your shares cost and whether a dividend goes ex inside the contract.
Both lenses also show when the company next reports. Results day is when a share price is most likely to move sharply, so a contract written across one carries that move — and the screener says so before you price anything, marking the date when it falls inside the contract you are looking at. A date shown with a tilde is the provider's estimate rather than a day the company has confirmed, and it can shift by a week.
Options are a Pro feature. Quantic never places a trade and never recommends one — the screener shows what an option would return if you sold it, alongside what it could cost you, and the decision stays yours. Selling options carries real risk, including being assigned stock that has fallen well below your strike.
Key terms
- The wheel
- An income loop: sell cash-secured puts until you're assigned shares, collect dividends while you hold them, then sell covered calls until the shares are called away — and repeat. Every step earns premium or dividends.
- Cash-secured put
- Selling a put while setting aside the cash to buy the shares if you're assigned. You collect a premium up front; if the stock stays above the strike you keep it as income, and if it drops you buy shares you wanted anyway at the strike — effectively a discount, minus the premium.
- Downside buffer
- How far a share can fall before a put you sold is assigned — the gap between today's price and the strike, as a percentage. A wider buffer means less chance of buying the shares, and a smaller premium for waiting. Measured to your break-even instead of the strike, it's the fall you'd absorb before actually losing money.
- Moneyness
- Where the current price sits versus the strike. For an option you sold, in-the-money (ITM) means it's heading toward assignment; out-of-the-money (OTM) means it's on track to expire worthless so you keep the premium. Near expiry, an in-the-money option is at real risk of assignment.
- Earnings date
- The day a company publishes its results. Prices often move sharply on it, so it matters when you're choosing an option expiry or deciding whether to buy before or after. Until a company confirms the day, providers estimate it from the last quarter and it can shift.
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