# ThetaRules

> Free options tools: build and price strategies on live option chains, read a stock's options (IV, expected move, open interest), and backtest rule-based options strategies such as covered calls, the wheel, LEAPS collars and iron condors day by day on real option prices. Educational only, not financial advice.

## Tools

- [Options Strategy Builder & P/L Calculator](https://thetarules.com/builder/): Read a stock's options and build any strategy on live chains: an overview of every strategy that fits today, payoff and P&L charts, greeks and break-evens.
- [Options Strategy Simulator: Replay a Trade Day by Day](https://thetarules.com/simulator/): Replay an options strategy day by day through real history and see whether it survives to expiry: the price path, P&L, greeks and the events that moved it.
- [Rule Builder: Backtest Your Own Options Strategy](https://thetarules.com/rule-builder/): Backtest your own options strategy, free: start from the wheel, covered calls, LEAPS collars or iron condors, change the rules and run it day by day on real option prices.
- [Intraday Scalping Rules & Backtest](https://thetarules.com/scalping/): Set intraday entry and exit rules on one- to sixty-minute candles for any symbol and backtest them on recent sessions, with every trade marked on the chart.
- [Momentum Stock Scanner: Top Movers, Volume & News](https://thetarules.com/scalping/scanner/): Scan the market for momentum stocks: the biggest movers with high relative volume, fresh news, low price and small float, refreshed through the trading day.
- [Intraday Backtesting: Momentum Scan + Scalping Rules](https://thetarules.com/scalping/backtest/): Backtest a momentum scan and intraday scalping rules together over past sessions: entries, exits, win rate and P&L per trade on real one-minute bars.

## Strategies

- [LEAPS only](https://thetarules.com/strategies/leaps-only/): Own a ~2-year 0.80 Δ LEAPS and roll it: nothing else. The baseline every LEAPS strategy should beat. Set hedge_delta (e.g. 0.05) to add a crash put.
- [Shares + crash put](https://thetarules.com/strategies/shares-crash-put/): Buy 100 shares and hold them, with a cheap 0.05 Δ put about 90 days out, swapped monthly. The null hypothesis: a strategy that can't beat this isn't earning its keep.
- [LEAPS + Protective put](https://thetarules.com/strategies/leaps-protective-put/): Own a ~2-year LEAPS instead of shares. Once it is up, buy a put under it: a floor with no ceiling. Until then, sell covered calls and hold a cheap crash put. If the stock falls through the floor, bank the pair and start again.
- [LEAPS + Protective spreads](https://thetarules.com/strategies/leaps-protective-spreads/): Own a ~2-year 0.90 Δ LEAPS. At +10% (when IV Rank is 20 or more), write a 0.30 Δ call on the LEAPS call's expiry: a spread with a locked worst case. Past the call, bank it and start again. A second LEAPS starts once the first is locked. Until each lock, sell income calls; always hold a cheap crash put.
- [LEAPS + Collar](https://thetarules.com/strategies/leaps-collar/): Own a ~2-year 0.80 Δ LEAPS instead of shares, sell a monthly 0.20 Δ call above it and hold a 0.20 Δ put under it: a collar. Roll the LEAPS call at 6 months left.
- [PMCC](https://thetarules.com/strategies/pmcc/): A ~2-year 0.80 Δ LEAPS with weekly 0.15 Δ calls sold above it: a poor man's covered call. Roll the LEAPS call when old or deep in the money; set hedge_delta to add a crash put.
- [Covered calls](https://thetarules.com/strategies/covered-calls/): Hold 100 shares and sell a far out-of-the-money weekly call against them. Take half the credit early; if the price runs to the strike, roll up and out for a credit, or let the shares go and buy them back.
- [Cash-secured puts](https://thetarules.com/strategies/cash-secured-puts/): Sell a weekly 0.30 Δ put. If assigned, sell calls at or above the adjusted cost basis until the shares are called. A cheap 90-day put sits under every short as crash insurance.
- [Put ratio spread 1×2](https://thetarules.com/strategies/put-ratio-spread-1-2/): Instead of a plain CSP: buy a 0.30 Δ put and sell two puts ratio_width below it. If the price nears the short strike, close the spread and keep one short put: a CSP, run like the wheel.
- [Covered straddle wheel](https://thetarules.com/strategies/covered-straddle-wheel/): The 2-lot wheel: an at-the-money put; if assigned, a covered straddle (or strangle); if assigned again, covered calls on both lots. 10% below the cost basis, repair; 30% below, review.
- [Short strangle](https://thetarules.com/strategies/short-strangle/): Sell a 0.16 Δ put and call at IV Rank 30+. Take half, stop at 2× the credit, out at 21 days. When a side is tested, roll the other toward it; after max_rolls, go to a straddle.
- [Iron condor](https://thetarules.com/strategies/iron-condor/): Sell a 0.16 Δ put spread and call spread, wings wing_pct apart, at IV Rank 30+. Take half, stop at 2× the credit, out at 21 days; roll a tested side out once for a credit.
- [Calendar spread](https://thetarules.com/strategies/calendar-spread/): Sell a ~30-day at-the-money call, buy the same strike ~60 days out, when IV Rank is ivr_max or less and the front month's IV is at least iv_ratio × the back month's. Take 25%, stop at 50%, out before the front expires or if the price runs.
- [Vertical spread by IV](https://thetarules.com/strategies/vertical-spread-by-iv/): IV Rank sets the kind, the 50-day trend the side: at IV Rank ivr_high+ sell a credit spread (bull put above the average, bear call below); at ivr_low or less buy a debit spread (bull call or bear put). Take take_pct, stop credit spreads at 2× the credit and debit spreads at half the debit, out at 21 days.
- [Short straddle → iron fly](https://thetarules.com/strategies/short-straddle-iron-fly/): Sell the at-the-money straddle at IV Rank 30+. Once wing_at % of the credit is made, buy a put and a call wing_x × the credit away: it becomes an iron fly. Take half, stop at 2× the credit, out at 21 days.
- [Iron butterfly](https://thetarules.com/strategies/iron-butterfly/): Sell the at-the-money put and call and buy wings wing_pct away, at IV Rank 30+. Take 25%, stop at the credit, out at 21 days; once the price is past a breakeven (the strike ± the credit), close and re-centre at the new price.
- [Covered call ratio write](https://thetarules.com/strategies/covered-call-ratio-write/): Hold 100 shares and sell two 0.20 Δ calls about a month out: one covered, one not. Take half; near the strike roll both up and out for a credit, and if the stock runs stop_pct past the strike with no credit roll, buy the calls back.
- [Stock repair](https://thetarules.com/strategies/stock-repair/): Hold 100 shares and, each month, buy one at-the-money call and sell two calls repair_pct above it for about zero cost: the gains double up to the short strike. The shares cover the extra short call. Out at 7 days left.
- [Jade lizard](https://thetarules.com/strategies/jade-lizard/): Sell a 0.30 Δ put and a call spread above at IV Rank 30+, only when the total credit is at least the call spread's width: no risk to the upside. Take half, stop at 2× the credit, out at 21 days.
- [Shares collar](https://thetarules.com/strategies/shares-collar/): Hold 100 shares with a 0.20 Δ put about two months out under them and a 0.20 Δ call about a month out above: the call pays for most of the put. Roll the put with 21 days left; take half on the call, roll it up and out near the strike.
- [Call diagonal](https://thetarules.com/strategies/call-diagonal/): With the price above its 50-day average: buy a 0.70 Δ call about 4 months out and sell a 0.30 Δ call about a month out against it (bullish). Take half on the short and sell the next; close it all with 30 days left on the long or at half the debit lost.
- [Put diagonal](https://thetarules.com/strategies/put-diagonal/): With the price below its 50-day average: buy a 0.70 Δ put about 4 months out and sell a 0.30 Δ put about a month out against it (bearish). Take half on the short and sell the next; close it all with 30 days left on the long or at half the debit lost.
- [Broken-wing put butterfly](https://thetarules.com/strategies/broken-wing-put-butterfly/): Buy a 0.35 Δ put, sell two puts width_pct below it and buy one put twice as far below again, for a credit: no upside risk. Take take_x × the credit, close if the price nears the lower wing, out at 14 days.
- [Put 1-1-2](https://thetarules.com/strategies/put-1-1-2/): About 120 days out: buy a 0.25 Δ put, sell a 0.20 Δ put and sell two 0.07 Δ puts, for a credit. Take half, close if the price nears the two short puts, out at 30 days.
- [Call backspread](https://thetarules.com/strategies/call-backspread/): At low IV (IV Rank ivr_max or less) in an uptrend: sell a 0.50 Δ call and buy two 0.30 Δ calls, same expiry about 50 days out, for a credit or a debit under max_debit of the price. Close when the long calls double, or with 21 days left.
- [Double calendar](https://thetarules.com/strategies/double-calendar/): At IV Rank ivr_max or less: a put calendar offset_pct below the price and a call calendar offset_pct above (front ~30 days, back ~60), when the front month's IV is at least iv_ratio × the back's. Take 25%, stop at half the debit, out before the front expires or if the price leaves the range.
- [Protective put · 90-day rolled put](https://thetarules.com/strategies/protective-put-90-day-rolled-put/): A LEAPS call; at +10% a ~90-day 0.30 Δ put, rolled with 30 days left, never to a lower strike
- [LEAPS + Married put](https://thetarules.com/strategies/leaps-married-put/): The 90-day example with one change: the put expires with the LEAPS call
- [Simple wheel](https://thetarules.com/strategies/simple-wheel/): Sell 0.30 Δ puts; if assigned, sell 0.30 Δ calls above cost until called away

## Learn

- [Learn: which structure, and when](https://thetarules.com/learn/): short notes comparing two structures, each ending in a rule of thumb
- [Want stock-like exposure without buying shares? LEAPS vs ZEBRA](https://thetarules.com/learn/leaps-vs-zebra/): Holding for more than about three months, or planning to sell calls against it? Use a LEAPS. Playing a shorter move and unwilling to pay for time? Use a ZEBRA.
- [Short straddle in profit, worried about the tail? Short straddle → iron fly](https://thetarules.com/learn/straddle-to-iron-fly/): At 25–50% profit, buy wings no wider than the remaining net credit. Too expensive at that width? Take the profit.
- [Covered call or cash-secured put? Covered call vs cash-secured put](https://thetarules.com/learn/covered-call-vs-cash-secured-put/): Already own the shares? Sell the call. Want to own them at a lower price? Sell the put. Choose by what you hold, not by which premium looks bigger.
- [Credit or debit spread? Let IV decide: credit vs debit spreads](https://thetarules.com/learn/credit-or-debit-spread/): IV Rank high (50 or more)? Sell the credit spread and let the rich premium decay. IV Rank low (30 or less)? Buy the debit spread while options are cheap. In between, the edge is small: size down or wait.
- [Assigned on a put. Now what? The wheel, step by step](https://thetarules.com/learn/assigned-on-a-put/): Sell calls at or above your adjusted basis: the strike less every premium collected. If that call pays almost nothing, go further out in time, not lower in strike. Go below basis only when you have decided you want out.
- [Collar or protective put? LEAPS + collar vs LEAPS + protective put](https://thetarules.com/learn/collar-vs-protective-put/): Expect a strong trend up? Use a protective put: pay for the floor and keep the upside. Expect chop or a slow grind? Use a collar: let the call pay for the put.
- [Strangle tested on one side: roll or close? Defending a short strangle](https://thetarules.com/learn/strangle-tested-roll-or-close/): Set the stop before you sell: close at a loss of about 2× the credit. Before that, roll the untested side closer for credit, and roll out in time only for a net credit. Never roll just to avoid taking a loss.
- [Defending a trade](https://thetarules.com/learn/defending/): For each position: the first move when it goes against you, what that move costs, and the line where you stop defending and take the loss.
- [Managing winners](https://thetarules.com/learn/managing-winners/): For each position: the point to take or lock the gain, what that gives up, and the cases where letting it run is the better bet. The numbers are the ones our backtests use.
- [Disclaimer](https://thetarules.com/disclaimer/): not advice; how the backtests are made and what they leave out