One of the most compelling advantages of running a continuous wheel strategy comes into sharp focus during vacation periods and short holiday trading weeks. While most trading strategies demand constant attention and daily decisions, the wheel strategy allows you to take a week off for spring break, spend quality time with family, and return to find your positions have managed themselves automatically according to your predetermined plan.
This article follows a real-world example of returning from spring break during a short holiday week to review expired positions, clear worthless options from the board, and establish new covered call and cash-secured put positions on Marvell Technology (MRVL). The demonstration shows how systematic position management creates consistent weekly income with minimal time commitment, making it practical for traders who cannot watch markets every single day.
You will learn how to evaluate position profitability after time away from the market, make strategic decisions about selling options during shortened trading weeks, adjust premium expectations based on fewer trading days, and maintain accurate cost basis tracking that shows your true financial position including all credits received.
After taking the previous week off for spring break, the first task involves reviewing the current position status to understand what transpired during the vacation period. The MyATMM cost basis screen filtered to MRVL positions shows two expired options that need attention: a cash-secured put that expired on March 24th and four covered call contracts that also expired worthless.
The cash-secured put sold at a $39.50 strike expired worthless, meaning the stock price remained above $39.50 through expiration. This outcome represents the ideal scenario for a cash-secured put: you collected the premium when you sold the put, the stock never dropped to your strike price, the put expired worthless, and you keep the entire premium as profit without any obligation to purchase shares.
The last trading price shows $43 per share, confirming the stock stayed well above the $39.50 strike throughout the life of the put. This $3.50 buffer between the strike and actual price provided substantial safety margin, demonstrating conservative strike selection that prioritized capital preservation over maximum premium collection.
The four covered call contracts sold at a $45 strike also expired worthless because the stock price remained below $45 through expiration. With the current trading price at $43, the stock came back up from lower levels but had not quite reached the $45 strike, allowing the calls to expire and leaving you still owning all 400 shares.
This outcome is positive on both fronts: you collected the premium when selling the calls, the stock did not get called away, you still own the shares and can sell new covered calls immediately, and the unrealized loss on the shares decreased as the price recovered from the lows. The stock showing good news on both the put and call sides sets up favorable conditions for establishing new positions.
After clearing the expired positions from the board, the position summary reveals the current financial status for the MRVL wheel strategy. Understanding these numbers provides the foundation for making informed decisions about new strikes and managing the ongoing position.
| Metric | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Total Shares Owned | 400 | Current position size for covered calls |
| Average Cost Basis | $44.75 | Average price paid per share from assignments |
| Current Stock Price | $43.30 | Last trading price as of April 2nd |
| Unrealized Loss | $580 | Paper loss on shares (400 × $1.45 below cost basis) |
| Total Credits Received | $2,576 | All option premium collected across all transactions |
| Net Position Profit | $1,996 | Credits minus unrealized loss ($2,576 - $580) |
Despite showing an unrealized loss of $580 on the shares themselves, the overall position profitability tells a completely different story. The $2,576 in total credits collected from selling options dramatically exceeds the $580 unrealized loss, putting the position nearly $2,000 in the green before accounting for any capital appreciation on the shares.
This demonstrates the fundamental power of the wheel strategy: option premium collection creates substantial income that provides a significant cushion against stock price declines. Even though the shares trade $1.45 below cost basis, the premium collected turns what would be a losing stock position into a profitable overall strategy.
The video makes an important observation about position flexibility. You could sell all 400 shares on Monday morning at the current market price near $43.30 and pocket approximately $2,100 in realized profit after accounting for the $580 loss on shares against the $2,576 in collected premium. This exit option exists at any time, providing the trader with complete control over the position and the ability to realize profits whenever desired.
However, rather than exiting, the strategy continues rolling the wheel to generate additional premium income through new covered calls and cash-secured puts. This decision prioritizes ongoing income generation over closing the position, demonstrating confidence that continued premium collection will further increase total profitability over time.
When planning new option positions, the trader discovers that the upcoming Friday April 6th represents a short trading week due to Good Friday before Easter Sunday. This four-day trading week instead of the normal five days has significant implications for premium collection and strike selection strategies.
Option premium directly correlates with time until expiration, a concept known as time decay or theta. Each additional day until expiration adds premium because the seller accepts more uncertainty about where the stock price might move. When a week contains only four trading days instead of five, option premium for that week declines proportionally because there is less time for the stock to move.
The analysis in the video demonstrates this relationship clearly. Looking at the at-the-money $43 strike cash-secured put, the four-day expiration collects 80 cents premium while the next week (adding seven more calendar days but only five more trading days) collects $1.35 premium. The next week offers 55 cents more premium for only slightly more time, making the decision whether to use the short week or extend to the following week more complex than usual.
When premium for the next week reaches roughly double the current week's premium, extending expiration typically makes sense because you collect the same amount per week. However, when the next week offers only 50-70 percent more premium instead of double, the decision becomes less clear cut.
In this case, four days offers 80 cents while eleven days offers $1.35. If you annualize these rates:
The four-day option actually offers better premium on a weekly basis, which leads to the decision to stick with the short week despite the seemingly more attractive dollar amount available by going longer. This analysis demonstrates how proper evaluation of premium per unit of time leads to better strategic decisions than simply selecting the largest dollar amount available.
After deciding to use the four-day expiration, the trader selects the at-the-money $43 strike cash-secured put collecting 80 cents premium. With only four days until expiration, collecting $80 on a single contract represents solid income for the shortened week.
Before submitting the order, the video demonstrates proper spread analysis to determine the optimal limit price. The bid-ask spread shows 80 cents bid and 84 cents ask, creating a four-cent spread. This four-cent difference represents the market maker's profit margin and the negotiation space available for your order.
A good rule of thumb suggests splitting the spread by going up two cents from the bid, setting your sell limit at 82 cents instead of accepting the 80 cent bid immediately. This small adjustment often fills while capturing an additional $2 per contract, which adds up meaningfully over dozens or hundreds of transactions throughout the year.
The workflow for placing the cash-secured put order involves these steps:
This systematic process ensures you capture the best possible fill while accepting that the order may not execute immediately if market conditions change. The queued order will attempt to fill when the market opens Monday morning, and if conditions have changed significantly, you can adjust the order or cancel and replace it with a more appropriate strike or limit price.
After establishing the cash-secured put position, attention turns to selling covered calls on the 400 owned shares. The cost basis of $44.75 per share guides strike selection, as selling calls above this price ensures that assignment would generate either a small profit or breakeven on the shares in addition to keeping all collected premium.
The natural choice involves the $45 strike sitting just 25 cents above the cost basis. However, when examining the four-day expiration, the $45 covered call offers only 31 cents premium. This minimal premium creates a dilemma: is 31 cents worth tying up 400 shares for four days?
The trader explores this decision by comparing premium at different expirations:
| Expiration | Days | $45 Strike Premium | Premium Per Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| This Friday | 4 days | 31 cents | 54 cents weekly equivalent |
| Two weeks out | 11 days | 81 cents | 52 cents weekly equivalent |
| Three weeks out | 18 days | $1.18 | 46 cents weekly equivalent |
The analysis reveals that two weeks out offers 81 cents premium, which represents more than double the 31 cents available this week. When premium doubles for only a modest extension in time, taking the longer expiration makes strategic sense because you collect similar premium per week while reducing transaction frequency and commission costs.
Selling 4 contracts at 81 cents generates $324 in premium over 11 days, compared to $124 for the four-day period. The additional $200 in income for only 7 extra calendar days represents a compelling trade-off that led to selecting the two-week expiration.
The covered call order shows a spread of 81 cents bid to 87 cents ask, creating a six-cent spread. Splitting this spread suggests going up three cents to 84 cents for the limit price. The final order for 4 contracts at 84 cents generates approximately $333 in expected premium after commissions, demonstrating how small improvements in fill price add up when trading multiple contracts.
The video demonstrates an important reality of option trading: not all queued orders fill as expected when market conditions change overnight or over weekends. After placing both orders on Sunday afternoon, Monday morning brings different results for each position.
The cash-secured put order placed at 82 cents executed successfully, and the actual fill came at 97 cents - significantly better than expected. This dramatic improvement occurred because market conditions changed between Sunday when the order was placed and Monday morning when the market opened, resulting in higher implied volatility or more favorable pricing that increased the premium available.
Receiving 97 cents instead of the expected 82 cents represents an additional $15 in premium on this single contract, demonstrating how limit orders can capture favorable price movements that occur between order placement and execution. The trader collected $97 minus fees for this transaction instead of the anticipated $81.35.
The covered call order did not execute because market conditions moved against the position. The order was placed expecting to collect 81 cents, but the stock price declined slightly overnight, reducing the premium available for that strike. By the time the trader checked the position, the available premium had dropped to approximately 33 cents.
This situation created a decision point: accept the lower 33 cents premium for this week and possibly collect similar premium next week, or extend the expiration further to find better premium. After analyzing the options, the trader discovered that going out to April 21st (18 days away) offered 65 cents premium, which represented nearly double the current week premium for the extended timeframe.
Rather than accepting the reduced premium or canceling entirely, the trader adjusted the order to the April 21st expiration at a 65 cent limit price (splitting the 63-67 cent spread). This adjustment for 4 contracts generated approximately $260 in expected premium, which proved acceptable for the three-week timeframe.
The following day, this adjusted order executed successfully at 69 cents per share - again better than the expected 65 cents - generating $276 total premium instead of the anticipated $260. The stock price moving favorably created better pricing for the order, demonstrating how patience and proper order management can improve outcomes even when initial orders do not fill as expected.
After both orders successfully executed on Tuesday April 4th, the workflow moves to recording these transactions in MyATMM to maintain accurate cost basis tracking and position history. This systematic record-keeping provides the foundation for all future decision making and ensures tax records remain accurate.
The video demonstrates the complete process for entering both transactions:
After recording both transactions, the position summary updates to show total credits received of $2,949 for the year. This running total tracks all premium collected across every transaction, providing clear visibility into cumulative income generation that makes evaluating position profitability straightforward.
The dashboard view shows monthly premium collection, revealing $737 collected in the previous month and $373 collected in the current month so far. This monthly tracking helps set realistic income expectations and evaluate whether the strategy continues performing effectively under current market conditions.
Managing option positions during short holiday weeks and vacation periods demonstrates the passive nature of the continuous wheel strategy when implemented systematically. The approach allows taking time off for family and personal priorities while positions manage themselves according to predetermined expiration dates and strike prices.
The video explicitly demonstrates how wheel strategy traders can take full weeks off without negative impact on positions. Options expire according to their contracts whether you watch them or not, capital preservation comes from conservative strike selection rather than constant monitoring, and returning after vacation simply involves reviewing what occurred and establishing new positions for the coming week.
This vacation flexibility represents one of the strategy's most valuable characteristics for traders who want income generation without the stress and time commitment of active day trading or momentum strategies that require constant market attention.
The MRVL position demonstrates how premium collection creates profitability even when shares trade below cost basis. With $2,949 in total credits collected against only $580 unrealized loss on shares, the position shows nearly $2,400 in profit. This cushion allows patience in waiting for shares to appreciate rather than feeling pressure to close positions showing paper losses.
Understanding true position profitability including all premium collected eliminates the emotional stress that comes from focusing only on share price relative to cost basis. Comprehensive tracking through MyATMM provides this complete financial picture that enables confident decision making.
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 significantly. Covered calls cap upside potential and do not protect against downside risk beyond the premium received.
Short trading weeks around holidays may experience reduced liquidity and increased volatility. Premium calculations and strategy selection should account for shortened timeframes. Past premium collection does not guarantee future income, and option prices can change dramatically based on market conditions and volatility.
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 consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.
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