Wheel strategy screener

Supported filters

Dividend yield on strike (%)

The filter that makes a wheel candidate worth holding. A 2% minimum, which the Wheel Candidates preset uses, keeps the put scan to stocks that pay you while you wait to sell calls against them.

Prob. of expiring worthless (%)

On the put side, the model-estimated odds you are not assigned; on the call side, the odds you keep the shares. A 70% floor on puts is a reasonable wheel pace: most puts expire, some turn into shares.

Distance OTM (%)

Distance out of the money, positive for both a put below the stock and a call above it. At least 1% on the put keeps the strike off the current price; 2% to 8% on the call leaves room for the shares to recover before they are called.

Annualized return (%)

Return on risk scaled by 365 over days to expiration, so a 10-day put and a 30-day put compare fairly. A 15% floor on puts and 10% to 12.5% on calls are typical wheel starting points.

Return on risk (%)

Return per trade before annualizing. A 1% minimum stops very short-dated options from looking attractive only because the annualizing multiplier is large.

Days to expiration (days)

Days to expiration. The wheel usually runs in short cycles, 7 to 30 days on the put and 15 to 45 on the call, so assignment decisions come around often.

Delta (anchor leg)

Absolute delta of the short option. Screening for 0.20 to 0.30 is a common way to set how often the wheel turns: higher deltas are assigned or called more often.

Dividend Aristocrats only

Limits results to S&P 500 companies with 25 or more consecutive years of dividend increases, for wheel traders who only want to be assigned on long-tenured payers.

Ex-dividend date

On the call side, an in-the-money short call is likely to be exercised the day before an ex-dividend date. Exclude ex-dates before expiration if you want to keep the dividend and the shares.

Earnings

Exclude earnings before expiration on both halves. A gap down through a put strike or a gap up through a call strike is the fastest way the wheel stops turning smoothly.

Market cap ($)

Assignment means holding the stock, possibly for months. A $10B floor keeps the put scan on companies large enough to hold through a drawdown.

IV rank

Where implied volatility sits in its one-year range. Higher rank pays more on both halves, and also flags names the market expects to move more than usual.

Total option volume

Total option volume across the chain. The wheel trades the same names repeatedly, so a chain that is liquid today should stay liquid for the next cycle.

Bid-ask spread ($) ($)

Maximum bid-ask spread on the option in dollars. On premiums under a dollar, a $0.20 spread is a meaningful share of the income.

Screening walkthrough

1. 1. Phase one: scan puts on stocks you would own

   Open the Wheel Candidates preset. It runs the cash-secured put strategy on $10B+ companies with a dividend yield on strike of at least 2%, a 70% floor on the odds of expiring worthless, 7 to 30 days to expiration, and a 15% annualized return floor, priced conservatively at the bid. Read the list as a shopping list first and a premium list second: if you would not want 100 shares of a name at its strike, skip it no matter what the return says.

2. 2. Place the put strike where you would buy anyway

   Use distance out of the money or delta to put the strike at a price you consider a fair entry. The breakeven column is the effective purchase price after the premium. If you prefer to be assigned less often, raise the probability of expiring worthless to 80%; the income drops, and so does the number of cycles that turn into shares.

3. 3. After assignment, switch the strategy and the universe

   Add the assigned symbol to your watchlist, set the universe to watchlist, and switch the strategy to covered call. The Covered Call Income preset is a reasonable template: at least 12.5% annualized, strikes from slightly in the money to 8% out, and no earnings before expiration. Keep the strike at or above your assigned cost if you do not want to lock in a loss on the shares when they are called.

4. 4. Read the call returns against your own cost

   The covered call return columns assume you bought the shares at today's price. After a put assignment your cost is the put strike minus the premium you collected, which is usually above the current price. Use the strike and premium columns to work out your own return, as the example below does, rather than the screener's return if called.

5. 5. Save each half as its own scan

   Save the put scan and the call scan separately so each cycle starts from the same criteria. Because saved scans keep their filters exactly as saved, tweaks you make during one cycle only carry forward if you save them.

Limitations and risks

• The screener does not know your positions or your cost basis. Covered call returns are figured on shares bought at the current price, which after a put assignment is usually below what you paid.
• The wheel's risk is the stock falling well below the put strike and staying there. Covered calls sold above your cost may pay very little on a stock that has dropped, and calls sold below it lock in a loss if called.
• A short call can be assigned early, most often the day before an ex-dividend date when it is in the money. A short put can be assigned early too, usually only when deep in the money.
• Quotes are refreshed intraday and are a snapshot, not a live feed. Conservative pricing (sell at the bid) is the more realistic figure for small premiums.
• Probability of expiring worthless and probability of profit are model estimates from option prices, not forecasts, and they ignore scheduled events unless you filter for them.
• This is a screening tool. It does not place orders, manage the rotation between puts and calls, or give personalized advice.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a single wheel strategy in the scanner?

No. The wheel is run as two scans: the cash-secured put strategy to find entries, and the covered call strategy once you hold shares. The filters are shared, so a saved put scan and a saved call scan together cover the full rotation.

Which preset should I start with?

Wheel Candidates for the put side: dividend payers over $10B, a 2% dividend yield on strike, 70% odds of expiring worthless, and 7 to 30 days out. Covered Call Income for the call side once you are assigned. Dividend Aristocrat Puts is a stricter put-side alternative limited to 25-year dividend growers.

How do I scan covered calls only on shares I was assigned?

Add those symbols to your watchlist, set the scan universe to watchlist, and choose the covered call strategy. Every filter then runs only on your names.

Why is the covered call return different from what I actually earn?

The screener assumes you bought 100 shares at the current price. After a put assignment you own them at the strike minus the put premium. If that is above the current price, your real return if called is lower than the column shows, and a strike below your cost would lock in a loss.

Does the wheel screener use margin returns?

No. The put half is the cash-secured put, with returns on the strike minus the premium. If you sell the puts on margin instead, screen the naked put strategy, whose returns are on Reg-T margin and are not comparable to cash-secured figures.

Should I pick strikes by delta or by distance out of the money?

Either works. Delta roughly tracks how often the option finishes in the money, which sets the pace of the wheel; distance out of the money is easier to relate to a price you would pay for the shares. Many traders screen by one and sanity-check with the other.

Read the strategy guides