Wheel Strategy ScreenerBoth legs of the wheel, judged by the same rules.
The wheel is two trades in a loop. You sell cash-secured puts until you are assigned, then sell covered calls on the shares until they are called away, and start again. Each leg is only as good as the premium it collects against the risk it takes. This screener ranks both legs on the same measures, so the loop is judged the same way at entry and at exit.
How the wheel works
- Sell a cash-secured put on a stock you are willing to own, holding the cash to buy 100 shares per contract at the strike.
- If it expires worthless, keep the premium and sell another.
- If you are assigned, you own the shares at the strike, less the premium you already collected.
- Sell covered calls against those shares. If they are called away, you are back to cash and step one.
It gets talked about as an income strategy. It is better understood as being paid, repeatedly, to take on the downside of a stock. The premium is real, and so is the risk of owning shares that have fallen while the calls against them collect less and less.
Choosing a stock to wheel
The wheel's worst outcome is ending up long a stock that keeps falling, so the choice of stock matters as much as the premium. For each name, this is what the screener checks:
- Whether you are paid for the risk. Implied volatility at the trade's tenor against realized volatility over the last 30 sessions. If options are priced below how much the stock moves, the put is marked Avoid: you would be underpaid to take on its downside.
- Whether a dated event is inside the expiry. An inverted term structure is penalized and flagged. Entering the wheel the week before earnings means being assigned on the gap.
- Whether the contract is tradeable. Open interest and spread at the exact strike, not the whole chain. The wheel means trading the same name again and again, and a wide spread is a cost you pay on every turn.
- Whether you can afford it. The put ties up the breakeven times 100 per contract. The screener rounds down against your capital limit and never up.
It deliberately does not judge the business. Whether you would be comfortable owning the shares for months is a question about the company, and the screener stays out of it.
Leg one: the put
The entry is a cash-secured put, screened exactly as on the cash-secured put screener: a delta target (−0.30 by default) at about 30 and 90 days, liquidity checks on the contract, a score built mostly on premium richness, and one of four verdicts with its reasons. If you switch to the risk-adjusted mode, each put also shows its chance of assignment, which is the chance the wheel turns to leg two.
Leg two: the call
After assignment, the exit is a covered call, screened as on the covered call screener. One thing to know: calls are priced against today's market, not against the price you were assigned at. If the stock has fallen since, a call at the screened delta may sit below your cost. Choosing a strike above your basis means accepting a smaller premium and a longer wait, and that is a decision to make knowingly, not by default.
Tracking the loop
Save any suggestion and it keeps exactly what the screener said when you saved it. Those figures are never recomputed afterwards. The trade is later marked against real prices, so over a few turns you can check what the screen claimed against what happened, rather than remembering it more kindly.
You can screen the universe the screener ranks by default, type a list of your own, or import a watchlist from a connected Interactive Brokers account.
What the wheel is not. It is not income without risk. In a sharp fall the put is assigned at a loss, and the calls you can sell against a depressed position pay very little. The screener can tell you when premium is rich and when an event is priced in. It cannot tell you where a stock is going.
Where the data comes from
By default the screener reads CBOE's delayed option chains and Nasdaq's daily price history, so no brokerage account is needed. Because the chains are delayed, every credit it shows is indicative: a starting point for a live quote, not a fill. Every suggestion says when its quotes were fetched, and anything older than an hour is marked stale. You can connect your own Interactive Brokers account instead, through IBKR's own sign-in screen. That connection is read-only, and nothing in the product can place, change or cancel an order.
Questions
What is the wheel strategy?
A loop of two option trades. You sell cash-secured puts until you are assigned shares, then sell covered calls on those shares until they are called away, and then start again with puts.
What delta and expiry should I use for the wheel?
There is no single right answer. Lower deltas are assigned less often and collect less; shorter expiries turn the wheel faster and mean more trades. The screener defaults to a 0.30 delta at about 30 and 90 days, as a starting point rather than a recommendation.
Can I screen my own list of stocks?
Yes. Type any list of NYSE or Nasdaq tickers, or import a watchlist from a connected Interactive Brokers account. Symbols not listed on either exchange are set aside with the reason.
How much capital does the wheel need?
One contract ties up the strike times 100, less the premium, for the put leg. The screener sizes against the maximum you set and rounds down, so it never suggests more than you said you have.
Does the screener manage the position for me?
No. It is read-only. It screens, suggests and records what it said; you place every trade yourself, with your broker.
Screen both legs of the wheel on today's chains.
Sign in with Google, Facebook, LinkedIn or X. 30-day free trial, no card required. It never places, changes or cancels an order.
Open the screener