Options strategy guides, priced on real chains
200 guides across 20 of the most liquid US underlyings. Each structure is built from the actual listed strikes, priced with 15-minute delayed quotes captured on August 1, 2026, and run through the same engine the builder uses — breakevens, max profit and loss, probability of profit. One click opens any of them live, with the strikes already loaded.
Expired capture
The August 28, 2026expiry this analysis was built on has passed, so the contracts quoted below no longer trade. The structure and the strike-selection logic still hold; the prices do not. Open the builder for today’s strikes on the real chain.
By underlying
| Ticker | Last | ATM IV | Expiry priced | Guides |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPYState Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | $747.03 | 13% | August 31, 2026 | 10 |
| QQQInvesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 | $687.99 | 23% | August 31, 2026 | 10 |
| IWMiShares Russell 2000 ETF | $291.2 | 19% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| AAPLApple Inc. | $308.91 | 27% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| NVDANvidia Corp | $200.75 | 46% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| TSLATesla, Inc. Common Stock | $311.21 | 46% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| MSFTMicrosoft Corp | $464.72 | 31% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| AMZNAmazon.Com Inc | $271.58 | 33% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| METAMeta Platforms, Inc. Class A Common Stock | $556.71 | 40% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| GOOGLAlphabet Inc. Class A Common Stock | $356.13 | 33% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| AMDAdvanced Micro Devices | $476.15 | 81% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| NFLXNetFlix Inc | $71.71 | 36% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| COINCoinbase Global, Inc. Class A Common Stock | $146.26 | 73% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| PLTRPalantir Technologies Inc. Class A Common Stock | $123.06 | 70% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| SOFISoFi Technologies, Inc. Common Stock | $16.31 | 50% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| FFord Motor Company | $14.68 | 35% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| KOCoca-Cola Company | $87.59 | 21% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| DISThe Walt Disney Company | $96.19 | 37% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| BABoeing Company | $216.14 | 34% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
| INTCIntel Corp | $90.2 | 85% | August 28, 2026 | 10 |
By strategy
- Covered callSell upside on shares you already own and get paid for the cap. · neutral to mildly bullish
- Cash-secured putGet paid to place a limit order below the market. · neutral to bullish
- Iron condorSell a range, buy the wings, collect if the stock stays put. · range-bound
- Bull call spreadBuy a call, sell a higher one — cheaper upside with a ceiling. · bullish, with a target
- Bull put spreadSell a put spread below the market: credit now, defined risk. · neutral to bullish
- Long straddleBuy the call and the put — pay for a move in either direction. · big move, direction unknown
- Long strangleOTM call plus OTM put — cheaper than a straddle, needs more move. · big move, direction unknown
- Long callDefined-risk upside with a deadline attached. · bullish
- Long putDefined-risk downside, or insurance with an expiry date. · bearish, or hedging
- Calendar call spreadSell the near-dated call, buy the far one — rent time twice. · flat near term, long vol
Each strategy is priced on all 20 underlyings — open a ticker above to see its full set, or jump straight into the builder for the other 40+ structures in the catalog.
Guides and long reads
- Covered call assignment: getting called awayGetting called away is not a glitch. You sold 100 shares at the strike the day you wrote the call. Here is that sale on a real AAPL chain, with the premium still attached.
- Early assignment and the ex-dividend dateEx-dividend week, short calls, panic. On a real KO chain the remaining extrinsic is larger than the dividend the engine implies over the whole window. Here is that comparison, and when early assignment actually shows up.
- Covered call vs selling the shares: real mathEvery covered-call seller has been asked why they don't just sell the stock. Fair question. One ticker, one chain, both exits priced — including the Friday the call does exactly what you sold it to do.
- Option assignment: what actually happensNew put sellers treat assignment like a penalty. It is a fill: you buy 100 shares at the strike, your basis is strike minus the credit, and the next trade starts there. Here is that fill, priced.
- The wheel strategy, with real numbersEveryone can recite the four steps. Almost nobody can tell you what a completed cycle returned on the capital it tied up. Here is one, priced off a real chain and folded by the same engine that runs our tracker.
- Rolling options: when it works, when it doesn’tEvery wheel trader rolls, and almost nobody prices what the roll actually did. Here are three rolls with the arithmetic shown: a covered call up and out for a real credit, a tested put defended at a real cost, and the sequence of rolls that quietly gave the whole premium stack back.
- Cash-secured put vs buying the stock: real mathEvery put seller has heard it: why not just buy the stock? It is a fair question with a computable answer. One ticker, one chain, both trades priced side by side — including the scenario where the put seller regrets everything.
- How the wheel is taxed: premium, basis, timingThe wheel's economics are one number; its tax treatment is four different events with four different dates. Here is a full cycle refolded the way a 1099 reads it — premium into basis, worthless expiries as gains, holding periods that stop and start — with the arithmetic shown.
- What a cash-secured put actually paysThe annualized-return column is the one everybody screenshots. It is also the one that tells you least. Here is the whole ladder — return, probability, breakeven, and the loss that takes six winners to repair.
- Covered calls on shares you already ownThe covered-call math you find online divides premium by cost basis. If you bought the stock years ago, that number is a fantasy — and it will talk you into selling a strike you should never have touched.
- Strike selection with delta and IV"Sell the 30 delta" is the most repeated rule in retail options and nobody can tell you what it means. Here is what delta actually measures, where it stops matching probability, and how far off it gets on a high-IV name.
- Why closing at $0.01 is wrongRecording an expired option as a close at $0.01 costs almost nothing in dollars. What it does to assignment history, cost basis and your recorded win rate is a $599 hole in the middle of a wheel — here is the arithmetic.