The Dashboard Positions tab on MyATMM serves as the command center for your entire option selling portfolio. This single screen provides complete visibility into every ticker you're tracking, showing aggregate metrics at the top and detailed breakdowns for each individual position below. Understanding how to read and interpret these metrics transforms raw data into actionable intelligence.
For option sellers managing multiple tickers with combinations of covered calls, cash-secured puts, and stock ownership, maintaining accurate position awareness becomes critical. You need to know at a glance how much capital is deployed, how much premium has been collected, what your unrealized gains or losses look like, and how much of your account remains uninvested. The Positions tab delivers all this information in organized, digestible format.
This article walks through every field and metric on the Dashboard Positions tab, explaining what each number represents, how it's calculated, and why it matters for your trading decisions. We'll examine both the aggregate summary row and the individual position rows, using real example data to illustrate the practical application of each metric.
The top row of the Positions tab displays portfolio-wide aggregate metrics calculated across all your tracked tickers. These high-level numbers provide instant insight into overall account health and capital deployment.
This column shows the net total of all deposits you've entered into the system minus any withdrawals. It represents the total capital you've contributed to your trading account over time. This number forms the baseline for measuring overall account performance—it's what you started with before any trading activity affected your balance.
For example, if you deposited $30,000 initially, added another $10,000 later, and withdrew $5,000 at some point, this column would show $35,000. It's the pure cash flow in and out before accounting for any gains, losses, or premium collection.
The Brokerage column displays an estimated account balance based on all transactions you've entered into MyATMM. This estimate represents what should be in your brokerage account if every transaction has been logged correctly and the last price data is perfectly synchronized.
This number will rarely match your actual brokerage balance exactly down to the penny for several reasons:
The Brokerage column serves as a ballpark indicator. If MyATMM shows $50,083 and your actual brokerage shows $50,100, you're in close alignment and can be confident your transaction logging is accurate. However, if MyATMM shows $50,083 but your brokerage shows $48,200, you likely have missing transactions or data entry errors that need investigation.
The only way to achieve perfect matching to the penny would be closing all positions entirely—no open stock, no open options. In that state with pure cash, the numbers should match exactly.
Stock Cost represents the total dollar amount you've paid to purchase shares across all your positions. This is pure cash outlay for stock ownership—it doesn't include option premium, just actual share purchases.
If you own 100 shares of MSFT purchased at $240, 200 shares of AAPL purchased at $150, and 100 shares of TSLA purchased at $180, your Stock Cost would be $24,000 + $30,000 + $18,000 = $72,000.
This metric shows how much of your capital is currently tied up in stock ownership versus remaining as cash or collateral for cash-secured puts.
Stock Value shows the current market value of all shares you own based on the most recent price data. The calculation is simple: total shares owned multiplied by last price for each ticker, summed across all positions.
Using the same example, if MSFT is now trading at $245, AAPL at $155, and TSLA at $185, your Stock Value would be (100 × $245) + (200 × $155) + (100 × $185) = $24,500 + $31,000 + $18,500 = $74,000.
Comparing Stock Value to Stock Cost immediately reveals whether your stock holdings are currently profitable or underwater.
Unrealized Gain/Loss is calculated as Stock Value minus Stock Cost. This "paper" gain or loss shows the profit or loss you'd realize if you sold all your shares at current market prices.
In the example above, Unrealized Gain/Loss would be $74,000 - $72,000 = +$2,000. You've made $2,000 on paper, but haven't locked it in by selling.
It's critical to understand this number represents temporary, unrealized performance. The market price could change before you sell. For option sellers using the wheel strategy, unrealized losses are often acceptable and expected—you collect premium while waiting for the stock to recover or continue selling calls against the position.
Collateral shows the total amount of cash currently tied up as collateral for all open cash-secured put positions across your portfolio. When you sell a cash-secured put, your broker holds cash equal to the strike price times 100 per contract to guarantee you can purchase shares if assigned.
For example, if you have one $19.50 strike put open on TSLA and two $150 strike puts open on AAPL, your total Collateral would be $1,950 + $30,000 = $31,950.
This number represents capital that's deployed but not yet converted to shares. It's neither liquid cash nor stock—it's committed capital waiting for put expiration or assignment.
The Credits column displays total premium collected across all tickers over the entire history of your account. This includes premium from covered calls sold, cash-secured puts sold, and any other option premium strategies.
This is one of the most important metrics for option sellers—it represents all the income your strategy has generated regardless of what happened with stock prices. If you've collected $5,000 in total premium across all positions, this column shows $5,000.
Credits accumulate over time and never decrease. Even if positions move against you or you experience losses, the premium you collected previously remains collected. This metric demonstrates the power of consistent premium collection as an income strategy.
Realized Gain/Loss captures actual gains or losses from positions you've closed. Unlike unrealized gains/losses that fluctuate with stock prices, realized gains/losses are permanent—they represent what actually happened when you sold shares.
For example, if you bought 100 shares of AAPL at $160, later sold them at $150, you'd realize a $1,000 loss. This loss would appear in the Realized Gain/Loss column and remain there permanently.
Most option sellers using the wheel strategy aim to minimize realized losses by holding through downturns and collecting premium. Ideally, this number stays near zero or positive, indicating you're not selling shares at losses to exit positions.
Overall Gain/Loss represents your true bottom-line performance across all trading activity. The calculation is:
Overall Gain/Loss = Total Credits + Realized Gain/Loss
Notice what's not included: unrealized gains or losses. This column shows only actual locked-in performance—premium you've collected and gains/losses you've realized by selling shares.
This approach makes sense for option sellers. You might own 1,000 shares purchased at $40 that are now worth $20, showing a massive unrealized loss. But if you've collected $15,000 in premium on that position over time and never sold shares at a loss, your Overall Gain/Loss is +$15,000 despite the paper loss.
The strategy focuses on premium collection and cost basis reduction, not stock appreciation. The Overall Gain/Loss metric reflects this philosophy by excluding unrealized stock movements.
Percentage Unused shows what portion of your capital is currently sitting as uninvested cash. The calculation considers your total deposits, subtracts out Stock Cost and Collateral (the capital actively deployed), and expresses the remainder as a percentage.
For example, if you deposited $50,000 total, have $24,000 in stock cost, and $19,000 in collateral, you have $7,000 uninvested. Percentage Unused would show 14% ($7,000 ÷ $50,000).
This metric helps you identify idle capital that could be deployed into new positions. Some traders prefer keeping 10-20% uninvested for flexibility and buying opportunities. Others prefer maximizing deployment to generate more premium. The Percentage Unused shows exactly where you stand.
Below the aggregate summary, each ticker you've traded appears as its own row with detailed position-specific metrics. These rows are sorted by the percentage of your account allocated to each position, with your largest positions appearing first.
The ticker symbol for the position. This is straightforward—MSFT, AAPL, TSLA, etc. The sorting by percentage allocation means your most capital-intensive positions appear at the top, giving immediate visibility to your largest exposures.
The total number of shares you currently own for this ticker. If you bought 100 shares, got assigned another 100 shares from a cash-secured put, and bought 50 more directly, this column shows 250 shares.
This number represents only owned shares, not shares potentially coming from open put contracts. Those potential future shares appear in the next column.
This column shows shares you'd receive if all your currently open cash-secured puts are assigned. If you have two put contracts outstanding, this column shows 200 shares (2 contracts × 100 shares per contract).
This forward-looking metric helps you understand potential position growth. If you currently own 500 shares and have 3 puts open, you could potentially grow to 800 shares if all puts are assigned.
The most recent price data for the ticker, updated twice daily automatically or on-demand when you manually trigger a price refresh from the covered calls screen. This price drives all the value calculations on the dashboard.
This shows your simple dollar cost average per share for owned shares. The calculation is total money paid for shares divided by total shares owned, not including premium.
If you bought 100 shares at $240 and later got assigned 100 shares at $230, your cost basis is (100 × $240 + 100 × $230) ÷ 200 = $235 per share.
For positions with open puts but no owned shares, the Cost Basis column shows zero. You don't have a cost basis until you actually own shares. The example in the tutorial showed TSLA and AAPL with zero cost basis because those positions only had open puts, not owned shares.
This is your true cost basis after accounting for all the premium you've collected on this position. It answers the question: "What price does the stock need to reach for me to break even if I sell all my shares?"
The calculation is: (Total paid for shares - Total premium collected) ÷ Total shares owned.
If you paid $24,000 for 100 shares (cost basis $240) but collected $600 in premium from calls and puts, your premium-adjusted cost basis is ($24,000 - $600) ÷ 100 = $234 per share.
This metric reveals the true power of systematic premium collection. Your breakeven price steadily declines as you collect more premium, making profitable exits increasingly likely even if the stock price never fully recovers to your original purchase prices.
This forward-looking metric shows what your cost basis would become if all your open cash-secured puts are assigned at their current strike prices.
For positions without open puts, this number matches your regular Cost Basis. But when you have active put contracts, this calculation shows the projected cost basis after assignment.
In the tutorial example, TSLA showed cost basis of zero (no owned shares) but Cost Basis Including Puts of $95. This indicated that if the open TSLA put was assigned, the resulting share purchase would create a $95 per share cost basis.
This projection helps you evaluate whether accepting assignment makes sense. If your projected cost basis after assignment seems too high relative to current price or your risk tolerance, you might consider rolling or closing the put rather than accepting assignment.
The paper gain or loss on this specific position, calculated as (Current Value - Cost). If you own 100 shares with $240 cost basis and current price is $235, your unrealized loss is $500.
This position-specific unrealized number helps identify which tickers are performing well and which are underwater. Combined with premium data, it reveals whether a position is profitable overall despite paper losses.
The amount of cash held as collateral for cash-secured puts on this specific ticker. If you have one $95 strike put on TSLA, the collateral is $9,500.
For tickers without open puts, this column shows zero. In the example, only TSLA had collateral showing because it was the only position with an open cash-secured put.
The total count of all transactions you've entered for this ticker—stock purchases, stock sales, puts sold, puts bought back, calls sold, calls bought back, assignments, etc.
This count gives a rough indicator of how actively you've traded each position. A ticker with 50 transactions has seen much more activity than one with 5 transactions. You can navigate to the cost basis screen to view the detailed transaction history for any ticker.
Total premium collected over all time on this specific ticker from selling calls and puts. This position-specific credit total lets you see which tickers have been your best premium generators.
Some positions might show large credit numbers from consistent weekly or monthly premium collection over extended periods. Others might show smaller numbers from newer positions or less active trading.
Any gains or losses you've locked in by selling shares of this specific ticker at prices different from your purchase cost.
In the tutorial example, AAPL showed a -$1,000 realized loss, indicating shares had been sold at a loss on that ticker. MSFT and TSLA showed zero because no shares had been sold at gains or losses yet on those positions.
The true bottom-line performance for this ticker: Credits + Realized Gain/Loss.
This position-specific overall gain/loss shows which tickers are contributing positively to your overall account performance and which might be dragging down results. Even a position with large unrealized losses can show positive overall gain/loss if premium collection has been strong enough.
The percentage of your total capital currently allocated to this position, calculated as (Stock Cost + Collateral) ÷ Total Deposits × 100.
In the example, MSFT showed 47.58% allocation—nearly half the account was dedicated to that one ticker. TSLA showed 18.97% despite having zero owned shares because collateral for the open put represented that portion of capital.
This percentage helps identify concentration risk. If one ticker represents 60% of your account, you have significant single-ticker risk. Diversifying across more tickers reduces that concentration.
Understanding what each metric means becomes valuable only when you apply that knowledge to actual trading decisions. The Dashboard Positions tab enables several critical decision-making processes.
The percentage allocation column immediately reveals if you're over-concentrated in any single ticker. Best practices suggest limiting single-position allocation to 15-25% of total capital for option sellers.
If you notice one ticker showing 50%+ allocation, you might:
Comparing Credits to Stock Cost reveals how effective your premium collection strategy has been. If you have $30,000 in stock cost but only $500 in lifetime credits, your premium strategy isn't generating much income relative to capital deployed.
Conversely, $30,000 in stock cost with $8,000 in credits shows strong premium generation—you've collected 26.7% of your stock investment back as premium income.
This comparison helps you identify which positions justify the capital deployment and which might need different strike selection or more aggressive premium collection approaches.
The gap between Cost Basis and Cost Basis with Premium shows how much your breakeven point has improved through premium collection. A $240 cost basis that's been reduced to $234 through premium represents $6 per share of cushion.
On 100 shares, that's $600 of protection against losses. The stock can drop from $240 to $234 and you'll still break even if you exit. This improving cost basis is the core advantage of consistent premium collection—it creates increasing safety margins over time.
The Cost Basis Including Puts column helps you evaluate whether accepting put assignment makes strategic sense. If this projected cost basis is 10-15% above current market price, assignment might leave you underwater immediately.
In the TSLA example showing $95 projected cost basis with stock trading at $95 or below, assignment would create an immediate at-the-money or slightly underwater position. You'd need to assess whether you're comfortable owning TSLA at that level and whether the premium collected justified that risk.
The Overall Gain/Loss aggregate number provides the ultimate strategy scorecard. If this number is positive and growing over time, your strategy is working—you're collecting more premium than you're losing on realized trades.
If Overall Gain/Loss is negative or stagnant despite active trading, something needs adjustment—perhaps strike selection is too aggressive, position sizing is wrong, or you're taking too many realized losses by exiting positions prematurely.
A high Percentage Unused indicates idle capital that could generate premium. If you're showing 30% unused with several established positions, you might consider:
The Dashboard Positions tab is only valuable if the underlying data is accurate. Regular reconciliation between MyATMM and your actual brokerage account ensures your metrics reflect reality.
Regularly compare the Brokerage column on your Dashboard to your actual brokerage cash and stock value. These should be relatively close—within a few percent given price fluctuations and timing differences.
If you notice significant discrepancies (more than 5-10% off), investigate by reviewing your transaction history to identify missing or incorrectly entered trades. Common causes include:
Periodically verify that the Shares column for each ticker matches your actual brokerage holdings. These should match exactly—there's no timing delay or price fluctuation excuse for share count discrepancies.
If MyATMM shows 300 shares but your brokerage shows 400, you're missing a 100-share purchase or assignment somewhere in your transaction history.
The Shares (Puts) column should reflect only actually open put contracts in your brokerage. If MyATMM shows potential shares from puts that have already expired or been closed, your transaction logging is incomplete.
After every put expiration or closure, verify the position updates correctly in MyATMM. Expired puts should disappear from the Shares (Puts) count. Assigned puts should convert to actual owned shares in the Shares column.
Your brokerage should provide premium collection reporting—total option income over various timeframes. Compare this to your Credits column totals periodically.
Significant differences indicate missing option transactions. Perhaps you sold a put or call and forgot to log it, or logged the position but entered incorrect premium amounts.
The Number of Transactions column provides a rough sanity check. If you know you've been actively trading a ticker for months but the transaction count shows only 5 entries, you've likely missed logging many trades.
Conversely, an unexpectedly high transaction count might indicate duplicate entries or incorrect logging.
The Dashboard Positions tab transforms complex multi-ticker option selling portfolios into organized, interpretable data. Every metric serves a specific purpose—from aggregate overview numbers that show overall account health to position-specific details that guide ticker-level decisions.
The aggregate summary row provides the bird's-eye view: total capital deployed, brokerage balance estimates, overall premium collection, and percentage of capital still uninvested. These portfolio-wide metrics enable strategic decisions about diversification, capital deployment, and overall strategy effectiveness.
Individual position rows deliver ticker-level intelligence: share ownership, cost basis calculations with and without premium, projected cost basis including potential put assignments, collateral deployed, and percentage allocation. These position-specific metrics inform tactical decisions about strike selection, position sizing, and risk management.
The distinction between simple cost basis and premium-adjusted cost basis reveals the true power of systematic option selling. As you collect premium week after week or month after month, your effective breakeven price steadily declines. Stock positions that appear underwater on a simple cost basis often show much healthier prospects when premium collection is factored in.
Understanding the difference between unrealized and realized gains/losses prevents emotional decision-making. Paper losses on stock positions don't affect your Overall Gain/Loss until you actually sell shares. For wheel strategy practitioners, unrealized losses are often temporary conditions to trade through by collecting premium, not signals to panic and realize losses.
The percentage allocation metrics protect against concentration risk. When half your capital sits in a single ticker, you've created significant single-position exposure. The Dashboard makes this concentration visible immediately, enabling proactive diversification before a single ticker's move devastates your entire portfolio.
Regular reconciliation between Dashboard metrics and actual brokerage data ensures your decision-making rests on accurate information. Systematic verification of balances, share counts, and premium totals catches logging errors before they compound into major discrepancies.
Take time to understand each Dashboard metric thoroughly. Know what it represents, how it's calculated, and what it tells you about your portfolio health. This understanding transforms the Positions tab from passive data display into active decision-making tool that guides better position management, improved risk control, and more effective premium collection strategies.
Options trading involves significant risk and is not suitable for all investors. Selling cash-secured puts obligates you to purchase shares at the strike price if assigned, which can result in substantial losses if the stock declines. Covered calls cap your upside potential and do not provide downside protection beyond the premium received.
Portfolio tracking and cost basis calculations do not reduce market risk or guarantee profitable outcomes. Accurate position data helps inform decisions but cannot predict future market movements or prevent losses.
This content is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice or a recommendation to trade any specific security or implement any particular strategy. Always conduct your own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.
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