Live cash-secured put candidates
The top-ranked contract on three of the most heavily traded chains in the market, right now. Chosen for liquidity rather than for flattering numbers — these are the same rankings a member sees.
Expiring 2026-10-02 (16 days). Annualised figures are a simple comparison across contracts of different lengths, not a repeatable return — a put assigned once can erase a year of premium. Verify every quote with your broker before acting.
What the ranking actually weighs
Yield is the least reliable input on an options screen, so it is not the first one. A contract is scored on whether it can be traded before it is scored on what it pays.
01The quoted spread. Anything wider than 35% of the midpoint is discarded outright. A 40% annualised yield on a contract you lose a fifth of your premium entering is not income.
02Open interest and volume. A strike with no standing interest and no trades today is a quote, not a market. Contracts failing both are dropped before scoring.
03Implied volatility, per contract. Taken from the contract's own quote rather than a house estimate, so the delta shown beside a price is derived from that price.
04Moneyness and time. Distance from spot and days to expiry, weighted differently for selling premium than for buying it — they are opposite trades and the same window does not suit both.
05Capital actually required. Strike times one hundred for a cash-secured put, spot times one hundred for a covered call. A yield means nothing without the capital it is a yield on.
Choosing when, not just what
Expiry is a decision, not a default. Selling premium has a well-known sweet spot around a month out, where there is enough extrinsic value to be worth writing and enough time that gamma near expiry stays manageable. Buying premium is the opposite trade, and the same window is where time value is most expensive.
01This week. Nearest expiries. Cheapest in dollars and the fastest decay — a bet on timing as much as direction.
02Weeks. The standard swing window. Enough time for a thesis to play out without paying for a quarter.
03Months. Covers a quarter — an earnings date, a contract award, a decision that has not been scheduled yet.
04Long dated. LEAPS territory. Slow decay, higher cost, and thinner outside the largest names.
05All listed. Broker-style range from the nearest listed contract through the furthest available LEAPS date, sampled evenly when the chain is large.
Both sides of the trade
Six structures, in two families. Selling premium through covered calls, cash-secured puts, covered puts and the Wheel; buying it through long calls and puts. Each keeps its own capital requirement, its own downside, and its own scoring — a long call is measured on cost, breakeven and maximum loss, never on an income yield it does not have.
What this is not
Wook ranks research candidates and never places trades. Nothing here accounts for your tax position, your margin agreement, assignment timing, or borrow availability on a short stock leg. A covered put in particular is materially riskier than a cash-secured put, and is labelled that way wherever it appears.