Selling options is only half the equation. The other half—the part that determines whether your strategy succeeds or fails—is accurately tracking what happens after those options are sold. Without systematic transaction logging, you're flying blind, unable to calculate true cost basis or measure strategy performance.
This follow-up workflow demonstrates the critical post-execution step that separates organized traders from those who eventually lose track of their positions. After your weekly review identifies which options to sell, the follow-up session logs those transactions into your tracking system, reconciles with brokerage data, and updates position metrics.
Using Robinhood as the brokerage platform and MyATMM as the tracking system, this article walks through logging executed covered calls and cash-secured puts on MVIS and RUM. The process includes downloading transaction data from Robinhood, entering each position into MyATMM with accurate premium and fee information, and verifying that tracked positions match brokerage reality.
Most option sellers start with good intentions about tracking their trades. Within a few weeks, they're relying on memory or incomplete spreadsheets, leading to catastrophic errors in cost basis calculation and position management.
Your cost basis determines profitability. If you bought shares at $26 but collected $3 in option premium over time, your true cost basis is $23, not $26. Without logging every premium collection event, you can't calculate this accurately. Many traders think they're underwater when they've actually broken even or become profitable after accounting for premium.
The difference between simple cost basis (average purchase price) and premium-adjusted cost basis (purchase price minus collected premiums) can be substantial. In positions held for months with consistent option selling, premium adjustments can reduce cost basis by 20% or more. This matters enormously for tax calculations and profit measurement.
Brokerage platforms show current positions but don't always clearly display historical premium collection or cost basis adjustments. By maintaining an independent transaction log, you can reconcile your records against brokerage statements, catching errors immediately rather than discovering them months later during tax season.
Discrepancies between your tracking system and brokerage data reveal missing transactions or data entry errors. Finding these errors immediately allows correction before they compound. Discovering them six months later during tax preparation creates chaos and potential tax filing mistakes.
How much premium did you collect this month? This year? On this specific ticker? Without systematic logging, these basic performance questions become impossible to answer. Premium collection tracking shows whether your strategy is working and allows comparison between different underlying stocks or time periods.
Annualized return calculations require knowing total premium collected and total capital deployed. Missing a few transactions throws off these calculations, making performance measurement unreliable and preventing strategy refinement.
Every option trade creates a taxable event. Form 1099-B from your brokerage will list hundreds of transactions, and you need records proving each one was entered correctly. A complete transaction history provides the audit trail supporting your tax return and defending against potential IRS inquiries.
Robinhood doesn't make exporting transaction data particularly easy, but browser extensions solve this problem efficiently.
The Robinhood transaction history downloader is a browser extension that exports your account activity to Excel format. Install the extension, navigate to your Robinhood account history page, and click the download button. The extension exports all recent transactions including option sales, purchases, assignments, and expirations with complete detail.
The exported Excel file includes critical data for each transaction:
This export becomes your source document for entering transactions into MyATMM. Having precise data from the brokerage eliminates guesswork and prevents entry errors that compound over time.
After downloading the transaction history, identify which transactions are new since your last logging session. Look for any sell-to-open transactions from the previous week that haven't been entered into MyATMM yet. These represent premium collection events that need logging.
In the example from the video, the Excel export showed:
Each of these six transactions requires individual logging in MyATMM with complete detail including strike, expiration, premium, and fees.
The MVIS position had three new options executed during the previous week that required logging: two covered calls and one cash-secured put. Each transaction goes through the same systematic logging workflow.
Begin by navigating to the MyATMM cost basis page for MVIS. This page displays all existing positions, transaction history, and current metrics. Apply the "Only Positions" filter to simplify the view, showing only tickers with active positions rather than the complete ticker list.
For each of the three transactions, click "New Position" to create a draft entry. Setting the start date to today (the logging date, not the trade date) provides a timestamp for when the entry was created. The actual trade date can be adjusted later if needed for precise record-keeping.
With three draft positions created, begin filling in details for each:
Referencing the Robinhood export Excel file:
Type: Sell to Open - Put
Contracts: 1
Strike Price: $2.50
Expiration Date: December 16, 2022
Premium Received: $0.02 per share ($2.00 total)
Required Collateral: $250 (strike × 100 shares)
Enter this data into the draft position: transaction type "Sell to Open," option type "Put," quantity 1 contract, strike $2.50, expiration 12/16, premium $0.02 per share. The platform automatically calculates total premium as $2.00 based on the per-share premium and contract quantity.
The first covered call covered 200 shares (2 contracts):
Type: Sell to Open - Call
Contracts: 2
Strike Price: $3.00
Expiration Date: December 16, 2022
Premium Received: $0.08 per share ($16.00 total)
Shares Covered: 200
Enter transaction type "Sell to Open," option type "Call," quantity 2 contracts, strike $3.00, expiration 12/16, premium $0.08 per share for total premium of $16.00.
The second covered call at a higher strike:
Type: Sell to Open - Call
Contracts: 2
Strike Price: $3.50
Expiration Date: December 16, 2022
Premium Received: $0.01 per share ($2.00 total)
Shares Covered: 200
At $3.50 strike well above current price, this far out-of-the-money call collected minimal premium ($0.01 per share). While not much income, it's better than letting those shares sit completely uncovered. Enter the details: 2 contracts, $3.50 strike, 12/16 expiration, $0.01 premium.
After entering all details, click "Save" for each draft position. This creates proposed records that aren't yet part of the permanent transaction history. Review each proposed transaction for accuracy—correct strike, expiration, premium amounts.
Once verified, move each proposed transaction to the permanent history one at a time by clicking "Save" again. This finalizes the entries and updates all position metrics including cost basis, premium collected, and collateral calculations.
The MyATMM system automatically:
The RUM position had three covered calls executed, each at a different strike price. The logging workflow mirrors the MVIS process with some position-specific considerations.
RUM had existing covered calls that weren't expiring this week, so those remained untouched. The three new calls represented fresh premium collection on different tranches of shares at varying strike prices. This demonstrates a common strategy: laddering strikes across your share position to balance income and assignment risk.
Referencing the Robinhood export:
Notice the premium gradient: closer strikes collect more premium ($0.15 at $8.50) while farther strikes collect less ($0.05 at $10.00). This is standard option pricing—selling closer to current price generates more income but increases assignment probability.
Navigate to the RUM cost basis page and create three new draft positions. All share the same basic parameters (Sell to Open, Call, 1 contract, 12/16 expiration) but differ in strike price and premium:
Entry 1: $8.50 strike, $0.15 premium ($15.00 total)
Entry 2: $9.00 strike, $0.10 premium ($10.00 total)
Entry 3: $10.00 strike, $0.05 premium ($5.00 total)
Total Premium Collected: $30.00 for the week
Enter each position with accurate strike and premium data. The systematic entry—creating all drafts, then entering all details, then saving and moving to permanent history—prevents confusion when working with multiple similar transactions.
After logging all three RUM calls, MyATMM displays updated metrics:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total Shares Owned | 300 |
| Total Premium Collected (All Time) | $273.00 |
| Premium This Week | $30.00 |
| Cost Basis (Premium-Adjusted) | Near breakeven |
The $273 in total premium collected across all time on RUM demonstrates the cumulative power of consistent weekly option selling. Each week's $30-$50 in premium seems small, but over months it adds up to substantial cost basis reduction. The position is approaching breakeven despite current unrealized losses, all due to systematic premium collection.
The video references an important platform evolution: the MyATMM user interface had been completely rewritten to automate calculations that previously required manual adjustment.
Earlier versions of MyATMM required manually adjusting the "shares from puts" field to account for collateral tied up in open cash-secured puts. This manual step was error-prone and time-consuming, especially when managing multiple puts across different strikes and expirations.
The rewritten UI automatically calculates collateral requirements based on open put positions. When you log a cash-secured put, the system immediately reserves the appropriate buying power, updates available capital displays, and adjusts proposed cost basis calculations. No manual intervention required.
As each transaction is moved from proposed status to permanent history, all position metrics update in real-time:
This immediate feedback confirms that transactions were logged correctly. If the premium collected doesn't match expectations or cost basis calculation seems wrong, you know immediately and can investigate rather than discovering errors later.
The automation reduces the weekly follow-up session from 30+ minutes of manual calculations to 10-15 minutes of straightforward data entry. Less time on administrative work means more time analyzing strategy effectiveness and planning next week's trades.
The video mentions that RUM had a cash-secured put, but not in Robinhood—it was in Thinkorswim and would be covered in a separate part 2 follow-up. This highlights a common challenge: managing positions across multiple brokerage platforms.
Many traders use multiple brokers for various reasons:
Without centralized tracking, managing positions across multiple platforms becomes chaotic. You need to check three different websites to see your complete position on a single ticker. Cost basis calculations become nearly impossible when premium is collected at different brokers on shares held at yet another broker.
MyATMM solves this by providing platform-agnostic tracking. Whether you trade on Robinhood, Thinkorswim, Tastyworks, Interactive Brokers, or any combination, all transactions log into the same system. Your complete position history—across all brokers—appears in one consolidated view.
This centralization enables:
The approach demonstrated in the video—separate logging sessions for Robinhood positions and Thinkorswim positions—creates mental clarity. Rather than jumping between broker platforms and mixing transaction sources, handle one broker completely, then move to the next. This reduces cognitive load and prevents transaction entry errors caused by confusion about which premium came from which broker.
Transaction logging seems straightforward but several common errors can corrupt your data and invalidate cost basis calculations.
The most frequent error: confusing per-share premium with total premium. Options trade in per-share terms ($0.15 per share) but represent 100-share contracts ($15.00 total). Entering $0.15 when you should enter $15.00 (or vice versa) throws off all subsequent calculations by 100x.
Always verify which field you're filling: if the platform asks for per-share premium, enter $0.15; if it asks for total premium, enter $15.00. Cross-check against your broker statement to confirm the amount matches.
Weekly options expire every Friday, but monthly options expire the third Friday. Entering the wrong expiration date means your tracking system shows an option as still open when it actually expired, or vice versa. This causes position count mismatches and prevents accurate expiration tracking.
Double-check expiration dates against broker transaction data. When in doubt, verify against an options calendar showing which Fridays are monthly vs. weekly expirations.
Most platforms charge per-contract fees (typically $0.65 per contract) plus regulatory fees (typically $0.01-$0.05). These fees reduce net premium received. Logging gross premium without subtracting fees overstates income and understates cost basis.
If your broker statement shows $15.00 premium but $14.33 net after $0.65 commission and $0.02 fees, log the net amount or log gross premium separately from fees depending on your tracking system's design. The key is ensuring total tracked income matches actual money received.
When logging sessions happen irregularly or without clear record of what was last logged, duplicate entries creep in. Entering the same premium collection twice doubles your tracked income, making performance look better than reality and incorrectly reducing cost basis.
Maintain a consistent logging schedule (weekly works well) and mark each broker transaction as logged immediately after entry. Some traders add a note in Excel or highlight the row to indicate it's been entered into tracking system.
Confusing "Sell to Open" with "Buy to Close" reverses the transaction direction. Selling to open generates credit (premium received); buying to close generates debit (premium paid to exit). Getting this wrong makes premium appear as costs or costs appear as premium, completely invalidating all calculations.
The vast majority of transactions in wheel strategy are Sell to Open (opening new short options). Buy to Close only happens when rolling or closing positions early. If you're logging consistent weekly option sales, 95%+ of entries should be Sell to Open.
Selling options without systematic transaction logging is like running a business without bookkeeping—you might be profitable, but you'll never know by how much, and you can't prove it to anyone including the IRS. The follow-up workflow demonstrated here transforms scattered trading activity into organized, measurable strategy execution.
The systematic approach requires minimal time—10-15 minutes weekly after the MyATMM UI automation—but delivers maximum value. Accurate cost basis calculation shows true position profitability. Complete transaction history supports tax reporting. Premium collection tracking measures strategy effectiveness. Position reconciliation catches errors immediately rather than months later.
MVIS and RUM logging demonstrated the workflow: download broker transaction data, create draft positions for each option sold, enter strike/expiration/premium/fee data precisely, save to proposed status, verify accuracy, move to permanent history, confirm position metrics updated correctly. This same workflow applies regardless of ticker, broker platform, or position size.
The multi-platform consideration matters increasingly as traders discover advantages of different brokers. Robinhood might offer commission-free trading while Thinkorswim provides superior analysis tools. Trading both requires tracking both, and centralized logging in MyATMM consolidates positions across platforms into single unified view. Your complete position on RUM appears correctly regardless of whether calls were sold on Robinhood and puts on Thinkorswim.
Common logging errors—confusing per-share and total premium, wrong expiration dates, forgotten fees, duplicate entries, incorrect transaction types—can corrupt months of data if not caught immediately. The systematic weekly workflow with verification steps prevents these errors from taking root. Spend 30 seconds verifying each entry and avoid hours of correction work later.
The improved MyATMM UI automation represents platform evolution responding to real user needs. Manual collateral calculation was tedious and error-prone; automation eliminated both problems. Real-time metric updates provide immediate feedback confirming transactions logged correctly. The platform handles complexity so traders focus on strategy rather than arithmetic.
This follow-up step—the unglamorous work of data entry and reconciliation—separates successful systematic option sellers from those who eventually abandon the strategy in confusion. Trade execution is exciting; transaction logging is boring. But boring consistent logging enables exciting consistent profits measured accurately and proven comprehensively.
Options trading involves significant risk and is not suitable for all investors. Selling covered calls caps upside potential and provides only limited downside protection equal to premium received. Cash-secured puts obligate share purchases that can result in losses if the stock declines significantly.
Accurate transaction tracking does not reduce market risk or ensure profitability. Systematic logging improves record-keeping and cost basis calculation but cannot prevent losses from unfavorable price movements.
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.
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