Make $300+ with 10 Minutes of Effort: Continuous Wheel Strategy on MRVL

Introduction: The Power of Playing Both Sides

What if you could generate $343 in premium income by spending just 10 minutes placing limit orders the night before market open? This isn't speculation or day trading—it's the systematic execution of the continuous wheel strategy using bilateral options positioning on a quality semiconductor stock.

The continuous wheel strategy becomes extraordinarily powerful when you trade both sides simultaneously. By selling covered calls on shares you already own while simultaneously selling cash-secured puts at strikes below the current price, you create a bilateral income structure where at least one side wins regardless of which direction the stock moves. The stock can only go up or down—one of your positions will profit from that movement.

This article walks through a real transaction sequence on Marvell Technology (MRVL) that demonstrates how this bilateral approach works in practice. You'll see the exact orders placed, the fill prices achieved, the MyATMM tracking workflow, and the premium collection results. More importantly, you'll understand why placing limit orders the night before and letting the market open fill them can produce better results than actively managing every tick.

The Bilateral Setup: Covered Calls and Cash-Secured Puts

Bilateral options positioning means simultaneously maintaining positions on both the call side and put side of the same underlying security. This isn't complicated—it's simply the natural state of the continuous wheel strategy when actively executed.

The Call Side: Covered Calls on Owned Shares

When you own shares of stock, you can sell covered call options against those shares. Each contract represents 100 shares, so if you own 300 shares of MRVL, you can sell up to 3 covered call contracts.

The covered call generates immediate premium income. In exchange for that premium, you agree to sell your shares at the strike price if the stock rises above that level by expiration. This caps your upside but creates consistent income whether the stock stays flat, declines moderately, or rises modestly.

The Put Side: Cash-Secured Puts for Share Accumulation

Simultaneously, you can sell cash-secured put options at strikes below the current price. When you sell a put, you receive premium immediately. In exchange, you agree to purchase 100 shares per contract at the strike price if the stock falls below that level by expiration.

The cash-secured put requires setting aside buying power equal to the strike price times 100. A $44 strike put requires $4,400 in available capital. If assigned, you purchase shares at that strike, adding to your position and increasing your capacity for selling covered calls in the future.

Why Both Sides Work Together

The bilateral structure creates multiple favorable outcomes:

• Stock Rises Significantly: Covered calls get assigned, selling shares at the strike for a profit. Cash-secured puts expire worthless, keeping the premium. You realize gains on the call side and pure premium profit on the put side.
• Stock Falls Moderately: Cash-secured puts get assigned, purchasing shares at the strike. Covered calls expire worthless, keeping the premium. You accumulate shares at a lower cost basis while collecting premium from both sides.
• Stock Stays Flat: Both sides may expire worthless if strikes are positioned out-of-the-money. You keep premium from both covered calls and cash-secured puts without any assignment occurring.
• Stock Whipsaws: When stock price fluctuates during the week, your limit orders may fill at better prices than initially anticipated due to intraday volatility—exactly what happened in this MRVL example.

Every outcome generates income. The only variable is whether that income comes purely from premium collection or combines premium with favorable share purchase or sale transactions.

Real Transaction Example: MRVL Weekly Positions

Let's examine the actual trades executed in this MRVL position, from order placement through fill confirmation and MyATMM tracking.

Starting Position

Before placing new orders, the position status was:

• Shares owned: 300 shares of MRVL
• Current stock price: Approximately $42-43 range
• Available buying power: Sufficient for additional share purchases
• Year-to-date premium collected: $2,182 from January and February trading

Orders Placed (Night Before Market Open)

Two separate limit orders were queued for the next trading session:

These orders were placed as good-till-canceled (GTC) limit orders, queued to execute when the market opened the next morning. No active monitoring or adjustment was planned—the strategy was to let the limit orders work automatically.

Market Open Execution: The Whipsaw Advantage

When the market opened, something interesting happened. Rather than filling at the limit prices or not filling at all, both orders filled at better prices than anticipated due to early-morning price action.

First Fill: Covered Calls (9:31 AM, one minute after open)

The covered call order filled at $0.77 per share—$0.10 better than the $0.67 limit price. This suggests the stock experienced upward price movement right at market open, increasing call option premium briefly. The fill occurred just one minute after the opening bell.

Detail	Value
Fill Price	$0.77 per share
Improvement Over Limit	+$0.10 per share
Total Premium Collected	$231 (3 contracts × $77)
Fill Time	9:31 AM (1 minute after open)

Second Fill: Cash-Secured Put (9:35 AM, five minutes after open)

Just four minutes after the covered calls filled, the cash-secured put order filled at $1.12 per share—$0.06 better than the $1.06 limit price. This suggests the stock reversed direction and declined shortly after the initial pop, increasing put option premium. The fill occurred at 9:35 AM.

Detail	Value
Fill Price	$1.12 per share
Improvement Over Limit	+$0.06 per share
Total Premium Collected	$112
Fill Time	9:35 AM (5 minutes after open)

What Happened: The Morning Whipsaw

The sequence of fills reveals the power of placing limit orders and letting market volatility work in your favor:

1. At market open, MRVL likely gapped up or experienced early buying pressure
2. This upward movement increased call option values, causing the covered call limit order to fill at $0.77 instead of $0.67
3. Within minutes, the stock reversed and began declining
4. This downward movement increased put option values, causing the cash-secured put limit order to fill at $1.12 instead of $1.06
5. Both orders filled at better prices than anticipated without any manual intervention

This type of whipsaw action at market open would frustrate most active traders. For the bilateral wheel strategy trader, it's a gift—you captured better prices on both sides simply by having orders in place and letting volatility work for you rather than against you.

Total Premium Collected

Combined premium from both positions: $231 (calls) + $112 (put) = $343 total

This $343 was collected for approximately 10 minutes of actual work: placing the orders the night before and confirming fills the next morning. No chart watching, no technical analysis, no active management required.

MyATMM Tracking Workflow: Logging the Transactions

Collecting premium is only half the battle. You must track every transaction accurately to maintain correct cost basis calculations and position status. MyATMM provides the systematic workflow for this.

Step 1: Navigate to Ticker Cost Basis Page

Log into MyATMM and select MRVL from the ticker dropdown. The cost basis page displays current position status, transaction history, and active options positions.

Step 2: Create Draft Positions for New Options

Use the draft position creator to queue up two new positions—one for the covered calls, one for the cash-secured put. Draft positions allow you to enter all details before committing them to permanent transaction history.

Step 3: Move to Transaction History

Once draft entries are verified against brokerage confirmation, click "Save" to move each position from draft status to permanent transaction history. This creates the audit trail showing when each transaction occurred and how much premium was collected.

MyATMM also provides helper fields for entering commissions and fees. In the paper trading demonstration account shown in the video, these fees aren't tracked, but in real accounts you would enter commission and regulatory fees to calculate net premium received.

Step 4: Verify Position Status

After saving both transactions, the position summary automatically updates:

Metric	Value
Total Shares Owned	300
Open Covered Calls	3 contracts at $45 strike
Open Cash-Secured Puts	1 contract at $44 strike
Current Stock Price	$42.27
Simple Cost Basis	$45.00
Premium-Adjusted Cost Basis	$37.73
Total Premium Collected (YTD)	$2,182 + $343 = $2,525
Unrealized Loss	-$819

The position shows an unrealized loss of $819 based on current stock price versus purchase prices. However, the nearly $2,200 in year-to-date premium collection significantly offsets this. The premium-adjusted cost basis of $37.73 represents the true breakeven point—the stock needs to reach $37.73 (not $45.00) for the overall position to break even.

Step 5: Review Dashboard Metrics

Navigate to the MyATMM dashboard to see portfolio-wide metrics. For MRVL specifically, the premium tab shows:

• March Premium (so far): $343 from this week's transactions
• February Premium: $1,300+ (including earnings week premiums)
• January Premium: Previous month's collections

This monthly breakdown demonstrates strategy consistency. Every week, new positions are established, premium is collected, and the cycle continues. The systematic approach removes emotion and creates predictable income streams.

Current Position Status: In-the-Money Put Analysis

After placing these positions, the stock immediately moved against the put position, creating an interesting scenario worth analyzing.

Put Position Currently In-the-Money

With MRVL trading at $42.27 and the put strike at $44, the cash-secured put is $1.73 in-the-money. If the stock stays at this level through Friday expiration, assignment will occur and 100 shares will be purchased at $44 per share.

Is this a problem? Not for the continuous wheel strategy trader. Here's why:

• Premium Already Collected: The $112 premium is already credited to the account and cannot be taken back
• Effective Purchase Price: If assigned, shares are purchased at $44, but the premium collected reduces the net cost to $42.88 ($44 - $1.12)
• Current Market Price: With the stock at $42.27, assignment at an effective price of $42.88 is very close to current market value
• Future Call Capacity: Assignment adds 100 shares, increasing covered call capacity from 3 to 4 contracts
• Dollar Cost Averaging: Adding shares at $44 when simple cost basis is $45 continues lowering the overall average cost

Call Position Out-of-the-Money

The covered calls at $45 strike are well out-of-the-money with the stock at $42.27. These will almost certainly expire worthless, allowing retention of the full $231 premium collected.

Combined Outcome Projections

If both positions expire at current price levels:

Event	Result
Covered Calls at $45	Expire worthless, keep $231 premium
Cash-Secured Put at $44	Assigned, purchase 100 shares at $44, net cost $42.88
New Total Shares	400 (was 300)
New Call Capacity	4 contracts (was 3)
Total Premium This Week	$343
Capital Deployed for Assignment	$4,400
Net Weekly Return	7.8% on capital deployed ($343/$4,400)

The assignment is actually favorable—it grows the position systematically, adds covered call capacity, and was executed at a price very close to current market value after accounting for premium collected.

Alternative: Rolling to Avoid Assignment

If the goal was to avoid deploying additional capital into MRVL, the put could be rolled before expiration. Rolling means buying back the current put and simultaneously selling a new put at a later expiration or different strike, collecting additional premium in the process.

However, in the demonstration account, the strategy is to let assignments occur naturally to show how the wheel strategy builds positions over time through systematic share accumulation. Rolling will be demonstrated once the account approaches its capital limits.

Year-to-Date Performance: Three Months of Systematic Execution

This MRVL position wasn't established all at once. It's the result of three months of systematic wheel strategy execution beginning in January 2023.

Monthly Premium Breakdown

The MyATMM dashboard shows premium collected by month:

• January 2023: Initial position establishment and first premium collections
• February 2023: $1,300+ collected, including a particularly profitable earnings week where both sides expired worthless
• March 2023: $343 collected in the first week, with three more weeks remaining in the month

Earnings Week: The Double Win

During February earnings announcement week, MRVL option premiums spiked significantly due to elevated implied volatility. The position collected over $500 in premium for that single week—more than double a typical week's income.

Even more remarkably, the stock price stayed between the put and call strikes through expiration. Both sides expired worthless, allowing retention of the full premium from both positions without any assignment occurring. This type of outcome—both sides winning simultaneously—happens occasionally and provides outsized returns for that week.

Position Growth Through Assignments

The 300 shares currently held weren't purchased in one transaction. They accumulated through multiple put assignments over the three-month period:

1. Initial small position established in January
2. Cash-secured puts assigned multiple times, adding 100 shares per assignment
3. Some covered calls assigned, reducing share count temporarily
4. Additional put assignments growing position back to current 300 shares

This organic growth through the wheel strategy creates natural dollar cost averaging. Shares are accumulated at different price points based on when put assignments occur, smoothing out entry prices over time.

Overall Profitability Assessment

Current position analysis:

• Shares owned: 300
• Current unrealized loss: -$819
• Total premium collected: $2,525 year-to-date
• Net position: +$1,706 ($2,525 premium - $819 unrealized loss)

Despite the stock trading well below the simple cost basis of $45, the position shows net profit of over $1,700 due to consistent premium collection. This demonstrates the power of the wheel strategy—you can profit even when the stock moves against you, as long as premium collection exceeds unrealized losses.

Key Strategy Principles Demonstrated

This MRVL example illustrates several critical principles that make the continuous wheel strategy effective for consistent income generation.

1. Bilateral Positioning Removes Directional Risk

By simultaneously holding calls and puts, you eliminate the need to predict stock direction. Upward movement benefits calls, downward movement benefits puts. You profit from the movement itself, not from correctly predicting which direction it will go.

2. Limit Orders Capture Volatility

Placing limit orders the night before and letting the market work for you often produces better fill prices than active management. The MRVL fills demonstrated this—both orders filled $0.06-$0.10 better than limit prices due to morning volatility.

3. Assignment Builds Positions Systematically

Put assignments shouldn't be feared—they're the mechanism for building your stock position through dollar cost averaging. Each assignment adds shares at strikes where you consciously chose to accept ownership, gradually building a position that generates expanding covered call capacity.

4. Premium Collection Reduces Cost Basis

Every dollar of premium collected permanently reduces your cost basis in the position. The difference between simple cost basis ($45) and premium-adjusted cost basis ($37.73) represents over $2,500 in collected premiums that change the fundamental economics of the position.

5. Systematic Execution Beats Market Timing

This position required approximately 10 minutes of work per week—place orders Sunday night or Monday morning, confirm fills, log transactions in MyATMM. No chart analysis, no technical indicators, no market timing. The systematic approach removed emotion and created consistent results.

6. Tracking Infrastructure Enables Strategy Sustainability

Without MyATMM's tracking infrastructure, managing this strategy long-term becomes untenable. You need accurate cost basis, complete transaction history, and reconciliation against brokerage balances. The platform provides this infrastructure, making the strategy practical for retail traders.

7. Time Decay Works For You

As an option seller, time decay (theta) is your friend. Every day that passes reduces the value of options you've sold, moving you closer to keeping the full premium. The weekly expiration cycle maximizes theta decay by constantly selling fresh options with maximum time value.

Getting Started with Bilateral Wheel Trading

If you're ready to implement this strategy on your own positions, here's the systematic approach to get started.

Step 1: Select an Appropriate Underlying

Choose stocks or ETFs with these characteristics:

• Liquid weekly options with tight bid-ask spreads
• Moderate volatility that generates meaningful premiums
• Price level where you're comfortable owning shares long-term
• Fundamentally sound company or established ETF (you may hold shares for extended periods)

MRVL worked well because it's an established semiconductor company with active options markets and sufficient volatility to generate weekly income.

Step 2: Establish Initial Position

You can start with either shares or cash-secured puts:

• If starting with cash: Sell cash-secured puts at strikes where you'd be happy owning shares. When assigned, you'll acquire shares to begin selling calls.
• If starting with shares: Immediately begin selling covered calls against those shares while also selling cash-secured puts to accumulate more shares.

Step 3: Establish Weekly Rhythm

Create a systematic weekly workflow:

1. Sunday Evening or Monday Morning: Review current positions, analyze strikes and premiums, place new limit orders
2. Market Open Tuesday: Confirm fills, log all transactions in MyATMM
3. Friday Afternoon: Review what expires, prepare for the following week's positions

Step 4: Implement Systematic Tracking

Set up MyATMM to track all transactions:

• Create ticker entry for your chosen underlying
• Log every option sold with exact premium, commission, and fees
• Record all assignments as they occur
• Monitor premium-adjusted cost basis to understand true position status
• Reconcile account balance weekly against brokerage statements

Step 5: Scale Gradually

Start small and grow organically:

• Begin with 1-2 contracts per side
• Let put assignments build your share count naturally
• As shares accumulate, increase covered call contract count proportionally
• Add additional tickers only after mastering the workflow on one underlying

The key is establishing systematic execution habits before scaling capital. Prove the strategy works with small size, then gradually increase as confidence and skill develop.

Conclusion: Systematic Income Through Bilateral Options Trading

The $343 collected in this MRVL transaction demonstrates that substantial weekly income is achievable through systematic options trading without complex strategies or constant market monitoring. The bilateral wheel approach—simultaneously holding covered calls and cash-secured puts—creates multiple income pathways regardless of market direction.

The power lies in the systematic execution. Place limit orders the night before, let market volatility work for you rather than against you, accept fills at improved prices when whipsaw action occurs, and track every transaction meticulously. This 10-minute weekly workflow generates consistent income that compounds over time into substantial annual returns.

Year-to-date results on this MRVL position validate the approach: over $2,500 in premium collected across three months despite the stock trading well below initial purchase prices. The premium-adjusted cost basis of $37.73 versus simple cost basis of $45.00 shows how systematic premium collection fundamentally changes position economics and creates profit even when the underlying moves against you.

MyATMM provides the essential infrastructure that makes this strategy sustainable long-term. Without accurate tracking of every transaction, premium collection, cost basis calculation, and account reconciliation, the strategy becomes guesswork. With systematic tracking, it becomes a repeatable income generation machine that executes week after week across market environments.

Start small, execute systematically, track obsessively. The bilateral wheel strategy doesn't require market timing genius or complex multi-leg tactics—just disciplined weekly execution of simple principles that compound into reliable income streams.