▶ Full Post Text
I’ve tried a lot of trading styles over the years.
Swing trading.
Shorting meme stocks.
Buying long calls and puts.
This screenshot pretty much sums up my early trading career:
I started trading in june 2021 and by November 2022 my account hit almost -50%...
https://preview.redd.it/m0m8k9qdhccg1.jpg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=845d99e0c87bbd15f75dcd9a47941257141b36b2
After about two years, I managed to blow up roughly half my account. Mostly by trying to be smart, or early, and right picking the right stocks.
Luckily, it was “only” a €10–20k account. Expensive lesson, but manageable. That was basically my unofficial Master’s degree in the markets.
At some point, something clicked: I wasn’t good at predicting direction but I was good at selling puts.
So I leaned into that.
A couple of years ago I started using the Option Wheel (mostly cash-secured puts and some covered calls). At first it was just another strategy in the mix. Last year I went almost all-in on it and that’s when things finally started to feel parabolic.
And Not because it’s the best strategy out there and it does not always beat the market. Though last year I did (35% vs 15% staying mostly cash). But because it fits how I actually think and behave.
With the Wheel:
* I don’t need perfect entries
* I don’t need to nail direction
* I don’t need to stare at screens all day (20–30 minutes is enough)
* I don’t need to chase news or momentum
Most days I’m just managing risk, sizing positions, and selling premium on stuff I’m genuinely fine owning. I keep a lot of cash on the sidelines and put it to work gradually instead of forcing trades.
I definitely made mistakes early on, higher deltas, riskier names, getting tempted by juicy premiums, still do sometimes... It works until it does not. Assignment taught me pretty quickly that “easy premium” usually comes with a bill attached.
Over time I cleaned it up:
lower deltas, more boring tickers, and slowly thinking about ETFs and indices as the account grows.
I’m 26 now. On roughly a \~$60k account I’ve been averaging around $800–$1,000 per month fairly consistently. It’s not passive, but it’s also not mentally exhausting and that matters more than I used to admit.
The biggest change wasn’t my P&L.
It was my peace of mind, putting time to work in my favor and being right most of the times not always with smaller positions...
The wheel gave me a process I can actually stick to, and a way to generate income without needing to constantly outsmart the market.
For transparency, I keep my trades public, wins, losses, assignments, everything, so people can judge for themselves:
[https://optionwheeltracker.com/trader/brotrader](https://optionwheeltracker.com/trader/brotrader)
Curious if anyone else here found a strategy that works for them the same way the wheel does for me?