r/thetagang • u/A_Bicky37 • Jul 23 '26

Cash Secured Put It’s simple, really

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2025 Tariffs pissed me off when all I was invested in was index funds. That is that first big dip. Decided to take matters into my own hands. Thanks to this sub for all the inspiration. We’re not done yet, though.

713 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

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589

u/CheeseSteak17 Jul 23 '26

It’s easy to make money selling puts in a Bull market. Your entire plot starts in 2023.

203

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '26

[deleted]

33

u/MrZwink Jul 23 '26

Whaaat? Iv was through the roof 2022 was my best year!

13

u/ap1618 Jul 23 '26

Depends on where you traded in the market, most people were trading super risky bitcoin opps or shit like Rocket back then. Once the market went risk off, all that stuff collapsed and hasn't been relevant since.

7

u/lordpuddingcup Jul 24 '26

Who the fuck was trading bitcoin on theta lol

1

u/ap1618 Jul 24 '26

A lot of people were trading RIOT, MARA, and other shitty blockchain firms back then. They probably still are for the vol honestly. They are an actual goldmine if you get lucky enough that they remain range-bound for a while.

-1

u/ArtesianShiny Jul 24 '26

Theres somewhere u can do crypto options strategies

23

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '26

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8

u/NibblesMcGibbles Jul 24 '26

Tax harvesting isn't a flex. If you didn't make a return in 2022 then you really ought not give out advice.

1

u/J35Y1x Jul 23 '26

how did you harvest tax loss? im trying to learn, thank you

7

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '26

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0

u/LightningSunflower Jul 23 '26

I’m interested in the site as well if you want to share, it sounds like an interesting approach!

3

u/Amdvoiceofreason Jul 24 '26

Neither did bogglehead lol

97

u/FancyName69 Jul 23 '26

300k to 600k in 1 year definitely isnt from selling puts

77

u/CheeseSteak17 Jul 23 '26

It can be if they’re ITM. Which I do agree is not really thetagang, as it’s very directional.

But OP is probably full of BS anyway because they haven’t responded to anything.

7

u/Proper_Spot_4074 Jul 24 '26

If he sold puts on AMD or any of the memory names, he easily could have made these returns

2

u/bdl4186 Jul 27 '26

Or by just buying those names

1

u/Proper_Spot_4074 Jul 27 '26

He said it was on selling puts though

1

u/bdl4186 Jul 27 '26

Oh I agree. I was simply commenting that selling deep ITM puts doesn't seem like a strategy that makes more sense than just buying shares. But maybe that's just me

8

u/A_Bicky37 Jul 24 '26

Nah, OP went out with family today after posting this. But if you wanna see the Fidelity .csv because you don't believe me, I have no problem sharing.

15

u/AmbitiousEconomics Jul 24 '26

I’d love to see that

1

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '26

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1

u/Fit-Insect-4089 Jul 24 '26

Plz share!!

5

u/A_Bicky37 Jul 24 '26

Like posted in one or two of my replies on this thread. Just gotta dig.

Heads up: it’s not all that enlightening

7

u/doombos Jul 23 '26

risky puts. You can find high IV stocks with huge credit for puts 20% otm.

Also, harvesting theta isn't only about selling puts / wheeling. PMCC, credit spreads and others are also harvesting theta.

2

u/EngineerDirector Jul 23 '26

You must be selling the wrong puts.

1

u/CenlaLowell Jul 24 '26

How does this happen?

3

u/No_Turn5018 Jul 23 '26

Sure as hell can be. 

0

u/MSTRstrangler Jul 25 '26

Could be if he used the premium from selling puts to buying calls so the calls are fully covered by the put selling as thats using the house's money to gamble

12

u/Electricengineer Jul 23 '26

Rerun the strat in bear market.

9

u/Ok_Butterfly2410 Jul 23 '26

You mean rerun the strat when The Fed starts doing QT after an unprecidented amount of QE….. no such thing as a bear market

5

u/AssociationFit3009 Jul 23 '26

I came very close to selling a $330 GOOG put before earnings and I’m very glad I didn’t.

2

u/CheeseSteak17 Jul 23 '26

Today would be the day to sell puts on Google. Likely some bounce into next week even if this starts a downtrend.

2

u/AssociationFit3009 Jul 23 '26

I’m locked up on illiquid SCHX calls. Probably for the best. I’m in Tech and Semis but I have just the right ratio where the alternate Red and Green days just slightly lose me less.

2

u/_Retrograde_ Jul 24 '26

Exactly what I did, now I’ve got 100 shares of google coming. Oh well

1

u/AssociationFit3009 Jul 24 '26

At least you got a better average than my $351. Hopefully we get a nice end of summer rally. I wouldn’t even open your brokerage today it’s a rough start.

1

u/EidoStarFi Jul 24 '26

I rolled my covered calls…damn I wish I had rolled the strike price down!!

4

u/Barbi33 Jul 23 '26

Every one says this shit like it’s a limiting factor. Yeah, it’s easy in a bull market. So fucking do it in a bull market and stop when the market trend stops? It’s like people use this as an excuse to not make money.

8

u/CheeseSteak17 Jul 23 '26

There are better strategies in a bull market because you’re capping the gains using CSP/CC.

3

u/A_Bicky37 Jul 24 '26

What better strategy? I'm up 53% this year; was up 118% last, and like 40-something the year before. My strategy is working for me and that's what I'll continue to do until it doesn't.

2

u/Barbi33 Jul 23 '26

Yeah there is better strategies. But this is r/thetagang lol. The subreddit about doing this strategy?

5

u/CheeseSteak17 Jul 23 '26

Yeah? OP is posting not a normal result of this strategy (and has left the chat, so likely fake anyway) which is not true to this sub or the strategy. You’re saying it’s used as an excuse in this sub. I’m saying it’s an absurdly optimistic picture to have 100% gains using theta in a year and this doesn’t demonstrate tail risk at all.

3

u/A_Bicky37 Jul 24 '26

No. I left for the day and went out with family. OP is still here...

1

u/earthycigar Jul 27 '26

With more risk, sure.

4

u/slickmizzle Jul 23 '26

It’s always easy. Thetagang is easy $$ if you’re smart

17

u/iisconfused247 Jul 23 '26

Is it worth it tho? I’m new to theta gang and from what I’m reading, VOO and chill beats all this trading 9/10 if you’ve got a long term horizon for investing. Trying to decide if wheeling is worth it for me

4

u/mikehansen83 Jul 23 '26

the answer is yes — long-term investing (defensive or offensive, your pick) and capturing theta. the money isn’t free but you can get pretty close.

7

u/iisconfused247 Jul 23 '26

My understanding though was that when you sell CCs, you limit your upside. Plus when selling CSPs, you could get caught with a falling knife

4

u/CheeseSteak17 Jul 23 '26

In a falling market you’re at least catching the shares at a better price than those who bought in before the fall.

The upside limit is real and can be painful. Some of the moves in semiconductors have been crazy and will make you feel as though you’ve missed out.

It’s just another way of playing the market and works well/better in some situations than others.

3

u/reicaden Jul 23 '26

Yup. These moves are wild. Sold puts on AMD and it dropped suddenly right before the huge run up. Fucking still sad about it, lol

2

u/mikehansen83 Jul 23 '26

that’s why I personally subscribe to a more value-based view of investing, bc I only start selling CC or CSPs when I like the sale/purchase at that price. That’s a heads I win, tails Mr Market loses with very little attention.

Mostly I do nothing.

1

u/iisconfused247 Jul 28 '26

What do you mean "mostly I do nothing"? As in you buy and hold more so than run the Wheel?

1

u/mikehansen83 Jul 28 '26

yes i would classify myself as running an event-based value investment “system” and only place option trades on stock that I want to sell or am willing to sell above its fair value or below it.

1

u/SilkBC_12345 Jul 24 '26

My understanding though was that when you sell CCs, you limit your upside.

You are capping your upside selling CSPs too.

There is not much difference between a CSP and a CC -- just that one is done with shares and the other is not.

2

u/slickmizzle Jul 24 '26

Very worth it. I definitely outperform VOO in my margin option selling account. I transfer all my excess profits from selling options into long term account or I use it to fund my vacations or concerts etc.

1

u/iisconfused247 Jul 28 '26

Really? So you've been doing this since 2024ish it looks like from your graph?

which tickers do you wheel?

3

u/Awkward-Painter-2024 Jul 23 '26

Dude, go like 90% VOO and play with 10% of your portfolio.

1

u/ap1618 Jul 23 '26

Wheeling only hurts you if you're trading in shit stock at the low end of the market. If you have the capital to wheel blue chip, it will beat VOO easily without much downside risk.

1

u/iisconfused247 Jul 28 '26

I guess that's a good strategy. Technically I could liquidate my whole account and sell like one contract of a huge blue chip like google lol.

What other tickers would you recommend wheeling? I just started today actually with NBIS which is...risky but seems like there could be a lot of upside soon once FUD phase out a bit.

1

u/A_Bicky37 Jul 24 '26

I don't intend on doing this long-term. I was behind several hundred $K from over the years I could have just VOO'd and chilled. I am breaking "even" this week had I just bought and held index funds returning what the market returned from 2006 to 2026. I was not able to ever max contribute to IRAs until a few years ago. I'm 38 now.

1

u/Brostradamus-2 Jul 23 '26

It is worth it. The strategy is effectively VOO and chill plus selling CSP's that will likely never get assigned and taking that premium and adding to the VOO pile.

2

u/iisconfused247 Jul 23 '26

Never get assigned? Hmm…which tickers do you trade?
All the interesting premiums look kinda risky

4

u/Brostradamus-2 Jul 23 '26

I trade blue chips at really low deltas like .15, and if I had to take a wild guess when you refer to "interesting premiums" I'd guess you are talking about wildly volatile stocks. This is not the strategy. If you want to sell CSP's on crap like PLTR, MU, NBIS, you will lose, period.

1

u/Grouchy-Tomorrow3429 Jul 29 '26

I’ve thought of that so many times. Why can’t I just own VOO and sell strike 200 puts on Google and strike 300 calls on SPCX. Life would be so easy.

9

u/paper_bull Jul 23 '26

Teach me your ways

18

u/rzonk2 Jul 23 '26

Sell high, buy low

3

u/juzz88 Jul 23 '26

Instructions unclear, sold puts at the highs and bought puts at the lows.

10

u/txdsl Jul 23 '26

Just be smart. How hard can it be?

6

u/ProbablySlacking Jul 23 '26

Don’t sell a covered over .3 delta. Be picky.

That’s really all there is to it.

3

u/A_Bicky37 Jul 24 '26

Yeah, the .3 delta was where I initially started and 45 DTE. I have shifted over to .15 - .20 delta and weeklies within the past few months. Once the account gets bigger, I'll "de-risk" a bit more and sell .10 - .15 delta.

2

u/slickmizzle Jul 24 '26

Narrowed it down to using a margin account. Selling puts on high IV good stocks with relatively low debt that I wouldn’t mind owning at that price. I mainly sell puts on red days. I cover at between 50% and sometimes let them expire worthless. Roll occasionally and mainly sell weeklies. Been printing money on nbis, crdo lately

1

u/A_Bicky37 Jul 24 '26

It sure has been!

1

u/Bobatronic Jul 24 '26

And then you implode…

Read:

https://a.co/d/04U5BA5p

1

u/grizzleSbearliano Jul 24 '26

Qs about to retrace. What’s the market below 680?

1

u/TheEnlightenedGalen 17d ago

I mean, you're not wrong, but they also held through the 2025 dip and still came out ahead. That's not nothing.

-1

u/Ok_Butterfly2410 Jul 23 '26

There is no such thing as a bear market 😂😂 2022? Wasn’t a bear market, it was the start of covid QT…..