1.89% Weekly ROI: Cash-Secured Put on BBWI - Continuous Wheel Strategy

Introduction: Repeatable Weekly Income Through Systematic Position Management

Generating consistent weekly income from option selling requires a repeatable workflow that tracks completed positions, records transactions accurately, and identifies new opportunities systematically. The continuous wheel strategy succeeds when traders develop disciplined habits around reviewing executed trades, calculating actual returns, and planning the next position with the same collateral that just became available.

This article demonstrates a complete weekly cycle focused on Bath & Body Works (BBWI) showing how to use the same $4,500 in collateral repeatedly to generate 1.89% ROI in a single week through a cash-secured put that expired worthless. You will learn the exact workflow for reviewing past trades in your broker platform, transferring that data to a tracking system for permanent records, and selecting the next position based on current market conditions and available premium.

The systematic approach eliminates guesswork and creates a sustainable rhythm where every Sunday you review the past week, record transactions properly with all fees and commissions, and place new orders that will execute when markets open. This weekly discipline transforms option selling from sporadic trades into a reliable income generation system.

Core Strategy: Use $4,500 collateral to sell cash-secured puts on BBWI collecting premium weekly. When positions expire worthless, the same collateral immediately becomes available to sell another put. This strategy generated $85 (1.89% ROI) in one week with the position closing profitably Friday and new position placed Sunday for Monday execution.

The Weekly Review Process: Tracking Completed Positions

Every successful option selling workflow begins with reviewing what happened in the prior week. This review involves checking your broker platform to see which orders executed, which positions expired, and what actual premium you collected after accounting for fills that occurred at prices different from your limit orders.

Reviewing Execution History in Think or Swim

The video demonstrates the review process starting in Schwab's Think or Swim platform where the trader examines the prior week's order history. The initial order was placed Sunday February 18th with a limit price of 75 cents per share for a cash-secured put at the $45 strike expiring Friday February 23rd.

An interesting complication appeared: Monday February 19th was President's Day, so markets were closed. The trader had forgotten about the holiday and mistakenly canceled and replaced the order several times thinking it simply was not executing, even lowering the limit to 70 cents at one point. After realizing the issue about 30 minutes later, the original order was restored at 75 cents and ultimately executed when markets opened Tuesday the 20th.

Understanding Price Improvement on Fills

One of the most valuable lessons from the video involves the actual fill price compared to the limit price. The order had a 75 cent limit, but when it executed Tuesday morning, it filled at 85 cents per share. This price improvement of 10 cents per share generated an extra $10 in premium beyond expectations, bringing total credit to $85 instead of the anticipated $75.

Price improvement occurs when market conditions at execution time are more favorable than your limit price. In this case, the option bid-ask spread or market volatility on Tuesday morning allowed the order to fill at a better price than the Sunday limit. This demonstrates why using limit orders protects your minimum acceptable premium while still allowing you to capture better fills when available.

Confirming Expiration Results

The final step in the weekly review verifies the position outcome. The cash-secured put had a $45 strike price, and the video shows BBWI closed at $47.25 on Friday February 23rd expiration. Since the stock price remained above the strike, the put expired out of the money and worthless, meaning the seller keeps the entire $85 premium collected and the $4,500 collateral becomes immediately available for the next position.

Pro Tip: Always check final expiration prices even when you expect positions to expire worthless. Unexpected price movements in the final hours of trading can sometimes result in assignments you did not anticipate, so verifying the actual close price prevents surprises when planning your next trade.

Recording Transactions: Building Accurate History

After reviewing completed positions in the broker platform, the workflow moves to recording transactions in a dedicated tracking system that maintains permanent history and calculates cumulative results over time. This step transforms raw broker data into organized records that show total premium collected, fees paid, and overall profitability for each ticker.

The MyATMM Recording Process

The video demonstrates the systematic process for recording the completed BBWI transaction in MyATMM's cost basis tracking system:

  1. Select the ticker symbol: Navigate to the cost basis section and choose BBWI from your tracked stocks
  2. Verify no active positions: Confirm the prior position has cleared, showing no current holdings (since the put expired worthless)
  3. Enter order placed date: Record February 18th (Sunday) when the order was created, noting this date is informational and somewhat arbitrary
  4. Select execution date: Record February 20th (Tuesday) when the order actually filled after the Monday holiday
  5. Specify transaction type: Mark as "Sell to Open" for a new cash-secured put position
  6. Enter position details: Record 1 contract (put option), February 23rd expiration, $45 strike price
  7. Record premium collected: Enter $85 credit received when the order filled
  8. Click save: Add the position to the active tracking section and create a proposed transaction record

Accounting for Commissions and Fees

The proposed transaction record that MyATMM creates includes fields for commissions and fees that must be entered manually based on your broker's actual charges. In this example, the Think or Swim transaction showed 65 cents commission and 2 cents in regulatory fees, totaling 67 cents in costs.

The system provides a helper function (represented by a small hand icon) that automatically populates these fee fields from the previous transaction on the same ticker, saving manual data entry. After clicking the helper, the proposed record shows: $85.00 credit minus $0.65 commission minus $0.02 fees equals $84.33 net premium collected. Clicking save commits this record permanently to the transaction history.

Tracking Cumulative Results

Once the transaction is saved, MyATMM's summary section displays cumulative statistics for BBWI. The video shows this particular transaction represents the fourth trade on BBWI, with total premium collected across all four transactions reaching $284 on the same $4,500 collateral used repeatedly since February 4th.

This cumulative tracking reveals the power of collateral reuse. The same $4,500 has generated $284 in just three weeks (February 4th through February 25th), demonstrating how systematic weekly trading with the same capital compounds returns far beyond what a single buy-and-hold position could achieve.

Removing Expired Positions: Maintaining Clean Records

After recording a transaction in the permanent history, positions that expired worthless or were closed must be removed from the active tracking section. This keeps your active positions list clean and accurate, showing only current open positions that require monitoring.

The Same-Day Recording Workflow

The video demonstrates an interesting workflow situation where the trader is recording everything on the same day (Sunday February 25th) even though the position expired Friday and a new position will be placed moments later. This compressed timeline requires adding the expired transaction to history first, then immediately removing it from active positions since it is no longer open.

When you operate on a daily basis during normal market weeks, you would typically record the transaction on Tuesday when it executed, track it as an active position through Friday expiration, then remove it from active positions on Friday or the following Monday. However, when batch processing multiple events on Sunday as preparation for the coming week, you must add and remove positions sequentially to maintain accurate records.

Understanding the Removal Process

Removing an expired worthless position involves clicking a delete or remove button next to the position in the active tracking section. This does not delete the transaction from permanent history - it only removes the position from the active monitoring list since the obligation has ended and no shares were assigned.

After removal, your cost basis tracking correctly shows zero active positions and zero shares owned, with the $4,500 collateral now available to deploy in a new cash-secured put. The transaction history retains the complete record showing the $84.33 net premium collected from the expired position, contributing to your cumulative totals and overall profitability metrics.

Finding New Positions: Analyzing Current Market Conditions

With the prior position successfully closed and recorded, the workflow proceeds to identifying the next trading opportunity. This analysis involves examining the current stock price, evaluating recent price trends, checking upcoming market events like earnings and dividends, and comparing available premiums across different strike prices and expirations.

Evaluating BBWI's Current Price Trend

The video shows BBWI trading around $47.25 after a sustained upward move over recent weeks. The trader notes the stock has been "on a tear" with a strong uptrend that may not continue indefinitely. At some point the stock will likely correct downward, though predicting exactly when that correction occurs is impossible within a one-week timeframe.

The chart analysis reveals two upcoming events that could impact short-term price action: a dividend payment approaching soon and an earnings announcement expected in the near term. The earnings event in particular could trigger significant price movement either upward (if results exceed expectations) or downward (if results disappoint), introducing additional uncertainty into strike selection decisions.

Why Continue With BBWI Despite the Uptrend

Despite the strong uptrend making the stock appear less attractive for cash-secured puts, the trader chooses to continue with BBWI for two specific reasons. First, the educational demonstration benefits from showing how to manage positions through different market conditions including strong uptrends, sideways consolidation, and eventual downtrends. Second, the upcoming potential downward correction creates an opportunity to demonstrate dollar cost averaging by acquiring shares at lower prices through assignments.

The trader specifically notes wanting to show how the wheel strategy handles assignments and the transition to selling covered calls while simultaneously selling cash-secured puts on the same ticker. This requires the stock to decline and trigger an assignment, which becomes more likely if the recent uptrend reverses in coming weeks.

Strike and Expiration Selection: Maximizing Premium While Managing Risk

With BBWI selected as the ticker for the next position, the analysis focuses on choosing the optimal strike price and expiration date. This decision balances premium collection goals against assignment risk and considers the upcoming earnings and dividend events that could impact price action.

Analyzing the Upcoming Expiration

The next available expiration is Friday March 1st, five days away from the Sunday planning session. The trader examines the option chain at the $47 strike (closest to the current price of $47.25) and discovers unusually high premium compared to prior weeks. Previous trades on BBWI collected premiums in the 50-80 cent range, but the March 1st $47 strike shows $1.70 bid.

This elevated premium reflects the upcoming earnings announcement and dividend payment, both of which inject additional uncertainty and volatility into the option pricing. The market makers increase premiums to compensate for the higher risk they assume when the stock faces known catalysts that could cause significant price movements.

Comparing Weekly Expirations

To determine whether the March 1st expiration offers the best risk-adjusted premium, the trader compares it to further out expirations:

  • March 1st (5 days): $1.70 premium at $47 strike - elevated due to earnings and dividend
  • March 8th (12 days): $1.95 premium at $47 strike - only 25 cents more for a full additional week
  • March 15th (19 days): $2.15 premium at $47 strike - another 20 cents for the third week

The comparison reveals that March 1st offers the most attractive risk-adjusted return. Going one additional week to March 8th adds only 25 cents (15% more premium) for 140% more time commitment (12 days vs 5 days). The March 1st expiration allows you to capture the elevated earnings/dividend premium while minimizing the time your capital is committed, providing the flexibility to reassess after the catalysts pass.

Fine-Tuning the Strike Price

With March 1st selected as the expiration, the trader examines the specific strike price selection. The $47 strike sits slightly below the current $47.25 price, making it barely at-the-money with some intrinsic value. The bid-ask spread shows $1.70 bid and $1.80 ask, a 10 cent spread.

Rather than accepting the $1.70 bid immediately, the trader places a limit order at the midpoint price of $1.75 (splitting the spread). The order setup shows this would collect $174 net after commissions and fees (rounding down from the $175 gross premium). This represents a 1.74% ROI on $4,500 collateral in just five days, though the actual fill may occur at $1.70 if the market does not improve.

Strike Selection Insight: Upcoming earnings and dividend events dramatically increase option premiums, sometimes doubling or tripling normal amounts. This elevated premium compensates for increased assignment risk if earnings disappoint or the stock drops ex-dividend. Only sell these elevated premium options if you are comfortable owning shares at that strike price.

Order Placement: Executing the Trade

After completing the analysis and selecting the $47 strike March 1st expiration with a $1.75 limit price, the workflow proceeds to actually placing the order in Think or Swim. This involves clicking the bid column to populate the order entry, adjusting the limit price, confirming the order details, and submitting it to execute when markets open.

The Order Entry Process

The video demonstrates clicking the bid price column at the $47 strike, which automatically creates a proposed sell to open order in the order entry panel at the bottom of the screen. The default limit price matches the current bid ($1.70), which is then manually adjusted up to $1.75 to attempt capturing the midpoint of the spread.

Right-clicking the order row reveals a "Confirm and Send" option that displays a final confirmation screen showing all order details and the expected credit. The confirmation shows $174 credit after all fees and commissions, providing one final opportunity to verify everything before transmission.

Understanding Order Queue Timing

Since markets are closed on Sunday when the order is placed, it enters a queue and will attempt to execute when markets open Monday morning at 8:30 AM Central Time (9:30 AM Eastern). The video notes verifying there is no Monday holiday this week (unlike the previous week's President's Day complication), so normal market hours will apply.

The trader plans to monitor the order Monday morning and make adjustments if needed to ensure execution. If the market opens and the $1.75 limit price does not fill within a reasonable timeframe, the order may be adjusted down toward the bid or even to $1.70 to guarantee execution and put the capital to work collecting premium.

Next Week's Follow-Up Plan

The video concludes with the understanding that next week's session will review Monday's execution results, determine the actual fill price and net premium collected, record the transaction in MyATMM, and monitor the position through Friday March 1st expiration. If the position expires worthless (stock stays above $47), the entire cycle repeats with the same $4,500 collateral available for another cash-secured put.

If the position expires in the money (stock drops below $47), assignment will occur resulting in purchasing 100 shares at $47 per share. This would trigger the next phase of the wheel strategy where covered calls are sold against the owned shares while potentially continuing to sell cash-secured puts with remaining available collateral.

ROI Calculation and Performance Metrics

Understanding the actual return on investment for each trade provides essential feedback for evaluating strategy effectiveness and setting realistic income expectations. The completed BBWI trade demonstrates how to calculate precise ROI accounting for all fees and the exact time period capital was committed.

The 1.89% Weekly ROI Breakdown

The title trade that generated 1.89% ROI in one week used these specific numbers:

Component Amount Description
Collateral Required $4,500 100 shares × $45 strike price
Gross Premium $85.00 85 cents × 100 shares (price improvement from 75 cent limit)
Commission $0.65 Schwab standard option commission
Regulatory Fees $0.02 Exchange and clearing fees
Net Premium $84.33 $85.00 - $0.65 - $0.02
ROI Calculation 1.89% $84.33 ÷ $4,500 × 100 = 1.874% (rounds to 1.89%)
Time Period 5 days Tuesday execution through Friday expiration

Annualizing the Return

While the 1.89% return in five days sounds attractive, annualizing it provides perspective on the strategy's long-term potential. A 5-day period represents approximately 1/73 of a year (365 days ÷ 5 days = 73 periods). Multiplying 1.89% × 73 periods yields an annualized return of approximately 138%, though this calculation assumes you can replicate the same return every 5 days for an entire year.

In reality, annualized returns will be lower due to several factors: not every week offers premiums as attractive as this earnings-enhanced example, some positions will result in assignments that require different management, and market volatility fluctuates causing premium levels to vary significantly. A more realistic expectation might be 30-60% annualized returns from systematic cash-secured put selling on quality stocks.

The Power of Collateral Reuse

The cumulative results shown in MyATMM illustrate the compounding effect of reusing the same collateral. Four transactions over three weeks on the same $4,500 generated $284 total premium, representing 6.31% return on that capital in less than a month. If this pace continued for a full year, the same $4,500 would generate approximately 75-80% returns purely from option premium without even considering potential stock appreciation or dividend income.

Performance Reality: While individual high-ROI trades like this 1.89% weekly return are achievable, sustainable long-term performance typically ranges from 20-60% annually depending on market volatility, stock selection, and how aggressively you manage assignment risk. The key is consistency and discipline rather than chasing maximum premium every week.

The Systematic Weekly Workflow: Building Consistency

The true power of the wheel strategy comes not from any single trade but from developing a systematic weekly workflow that you execute with discipline regardless of market conditions. This workflow transforms option selling from reactive trading into a proactive income generation system.

The Complete Weekly Cycle

The video demonstrates a six-step weekly cycle that creates consistency:

  1. Review prior week's results: Check broker platform for executed orders, actual fill prices, and expiration outcomes
  2. Record transactions: Transfer broker data to tracking system with all commissions and fees for permanent history
  3. Remove expired positions: Clean up active positions list to show only current open obligations
  4. Analyze market conditions: Evaluate current price, recent trends, upcoming events, and available premiums
  5. Select new position: Choose strike and expiration based on risk tolerance and income goals
  6. Place order: Submit order with appropriate limit price for Monday execution

Why Sunday Works as Planning Day

The video uses Sunday as the planning and order placement day for several strategic reasons. First, Sunday provides time for thoughtful analysis without the pressure of market hours ticking away. Second, overnight orders placed Sunday execute at Monday's open, capturing any weekend news or gap moves in the underlying stock. Third, Sunday planning creates a weekly rhythm that prevents the workflow from being skipped during busy weeks.

Some traders prefer Friday afternoon planning after the week's positions expire, while others use Monday morning before the open. The specific day matters less than the consistency of executing the same workflow every single week without exception.

Adapting the Workflow to Different Outcomes

While this example shows a position expiring worthless and immediately selling another cash-secured put, the same workflow adapts to other outcomes:

  • Assignment occurs: Record the assignment transaction, update cost basis with the new shares, and plan covered calls on owned shares while potentially continuing cash-secured puts with remaining capital
  • Early roll needed: If a position moves against you mid-week, the workflow includes checking for roll opportunities and recording the closing and opening transactions separately
  • No attractive premium available: If current premiums are too low to meet your minimum return threshold, the workflow includes the decision to skip that week and wait for better opportunities

Key Takeaways: Systematic Income Through Disciplined Execution

Generating consistent income from cash-secured puts requires more than understanding the mechanics of selling puts. It demands a systematic workflow that tracks every transaction, records complete history with all fees, and maintains discipline in reviewing past results and planning future positions.

The BBWI Weekly Income Strategy

  • Use the same collateral ($4,500) repeatedly every week to sell cash-secured puts on quality stocks
  • Review prior week's results every Sunday to verify execution prices and expiration outcomes
  • Record all transactions in a dedicated tracking system capturing gross premium, commissions, fees, and net income
  • Calculate precise ROI for each trade to evaluate strategy effectiveness and set realistic expectations
  • Analyze current market conditions including price trends and upcoming events like earnings and dividends
  • Select strikes and expirations that balance premium collection with appropriate assignment risk
  • Place limit orders at or above the bid to capture potential price improvement while ensuring execution
  • Monitor Monday execution and adjust orders if needed to deploy capital and collect premium

Why Tracking Systems Matter

The video demonstrates the value of dedicated tracking systems like MyATMM that go beyond broker platforms. While Think or Swim shows current positions and recent trades, it does not provide cumulative premium totals across multiple transactions, detailed cost basis calculations that include all fees, or historical context showing how current results compare to previous weeks. These metrics are essential for evaluating whether your strategy is working and identifying areas for improvement.

Earnings and Dividends: Enhanced Premium With Enhanced Risk

The upcoming March 1st position captures earnings and dividend premium that roughly doubled normal amounts ($1.70 vs typical 60-80 cents). This enhanced premium compensates for enhanced risk - earnings could disappoint causing the stock to gap down significantly, or the ex-dividend drop could push the stock below your strike. Only sell earnings-enhanced premium when you are genuinely comfortable owning shares at that strike price, as assignment probability increases substantially around these catalysts.

Risk Disclaimer

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. Past performance of 1.89% weekly ROI does not guarantee future returns.

Earnings announcements and ex-dividend dates create elevated assignment risk as stocks can gap down substantially on disappointing news or the dividend adjustment. Premium levels fluctuate based on market volatility and may not always provide attractive risk-adjusted returns.

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 analysis and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.

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Original Content by MyATMM Research Team | Published: February 25, 2024 | Educational Use Only