Pick covered call or cash-secured put, enter the stock price, strike, premium and days to expiration, and the calculator shows what the trade earns per cycle and what that is worth over a year. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.
How to use it
- Choose the strategy. The defaults update to a typical example for each.
- Enter the stock price today, the strike you are selling, the premium per share you collect, and the days to expiration. Fees are optional but matter on small trades.
- Read the cards: the return for one cycle, the annualized figures, your breakeven, and the premium you would need to reach the target return you typed in.
If the number looks too good, check the warning under the cards. A high annualized yield almost always means a short expiration, a strike close to the stock price, or both, and those are the trades most likely to end in assignment.
What each number means
Return this cycle. Net premium divided by the capital the trade ties up: the stock value for a covered call, the strike times 100 for a cash-secured put. This is what you earn if the option expires worthless.
Annualized, simple. The cycle return multiplied by 365 divided by the days to expiration. It answers “what would this pace be worth over a year?” and it is the fairest way to compare a 7-day trade with a 45-day trade.
Annualized, compounded. The same pace with each cycle’s profit reinvested. It is always a little higher than the simple figure, and it assumes you can repeat the identical trade, at the same price, every cycle. Treat it as a ceiling.
Return if called away (covered call). Premium plus the gain from your stock price up to the strike, as a share of the stock value. It is your best case on the trade and the number to use when the call is in the money.
Cost basis if assigned (cash-secured put). Strike minus the premium. It is also your breakeven: below this price the position loses money at expiration.
Premium needed for your target. The per-share premium that would produce your target annualized return at this strike and expiration. If the market is paying less, the trade does not clear your bar; if it pays far more, ask why before you celebrate.
Annualized return is a comparison tool, not a forecast
Annualizing assumes you can find the same trade again and again, and that every cycle ends well. Real covered call and put-selling results are lumpy: several small wins, then an assignment, a stock that drops through your breakeven, or a rally that leaves you with capped upside. Use the annualized figure to rank candidate trades against each other and against alternatives such as a Treasury bill, then size the position for the bad cycle, not the average one.
For the full reasoning, including a worked comparison of weekly and monthly expirations and the effect of fees, read how to annualize covered call and cash-secured put returns. To see the payoff chart and max loss for the same trades, use the options profit calculator.
Educational use only. This calculator does not account for taxes, dividends, early assignment, bid-ask slippage or margin interest, and it is not advice to buy or sell any security.