As part of a public experiment, I will trade a modified version of the Wheel Strategy and document the results here.
Strategy parameters:
- All entries are based on signals generated at
https://unlockingalpha.com/
- Weekly options will be sold, typically between .20 and .35 delta
- If a cash secured put is set to expire in the money, the put will be rolled to the following week or assignment taken ONLY if unlockingalpha.com generates a buy signal for that day. Otherwise, the position will be closed out for a loss. This is different than the traditional Wheel Strategy which always takes assignment or rolls.
- Unlike the traditional Wheel Strategy, cash secured calls can also be sold without owning the underlying stock when a short signal is generated. The same rules apply for rolling or taking assignment. If a signal is generated that day only.
- If an opposite signal is generated, any short options against that signal will be closed. Example, if short puts and a short signal is generated, those short puts will be closed immediately.
- If an option captures 80% of its premium, it will be closed early
- The goal is to sell $1,000 worth of premium every day. Using the trading signals generated at 9:45, 11:00, 11:45, and 12:45 (all times central time). Due to long term market upward bias, selling puts will be preferred to selling calls when all else is equal.
About
https://unlockingalpha.com/
- All signals are generated using AI and posted in real time to that site
- Backtesting results from 2004 through June of 2023 are available
- The system has been walk forward testing from June 2023 until December 2023
- I started trading the system live 2 days ago using the above strategy. Below is a screenshot of the current holdings.
For reference, in December it generated 1239 signals with a winning percentage of 75.95% and an average return of 1.57% per trade. This is in-line with historical norms.
So far, I have sold $2,428 worth of premium the past 2 days. $179 was closed today on a short IWM call position that captured 80% of the premium.
From the screenshot, you can see that $486 of the premium is currently already unrealized.