Wheel Income via ETFs (Puts + Covered Calls)
US core
A 50/50, monthly-refreshed blend of the cash-secured put-write and covered-call ETF baskets — the always-on, listed expression of the options wheel. Sells the same short-volatility premium as its two parts, so it's a distinct portfolio, not a second edge. Expect a smoother ride with less upside than a stock index; a fund's yield is not its total return. No edge over the underlying is claimed. These funds use derivatives and may count as complex products at your broker (appropriateness test).
This strategy's universe (7) →
Worst stretch in the backtest: -16.7% — a simulated $1,000 would have dipped to ~$833 before recovering.
Backtest window: 2020-09-30 → 2026-09-30 · as of 2026-09-30 (updated quarterly)
This window does not include the COVID crash (Feb–Mar 2020) and the 2008 financial crisis.
Full methodology & limitations
Track records are simulated backtests, not live results. Methodology and current limitations: (1) Universe membership is real point-in-time index constituents - Nasdaq-100 (US) and WIG20 (PL), with dated add/drop history - so backtests see each index as it actually was, with no survivorship from later additions. Prices are adjusted close (total-return). When the backtest runs on the licensed, delisted-capable feed (EODHD), index members that later delisted or renamed are still priced and INCLUDED, closing the survivorship gap on the price side; when it runs on the keyless fallback feed, some delisted names are unpriced and dropped, which can flatter drawdowns. Smaller residuals remain: index changes after the last sourced revision are not yet reflected (Nasdaq-100 membership as pulled on 2026-06-30, WIG20 as of its September 2025 revision), and a few long-delisted tickers may still be unresolved. A name with no real quote for 14 days is treated as untradable - never picked and never held on a frozen price - and a renamed listing is held under its new code with its full history. (2) Costs are charged per market on each rebalance's turnover - 5 bps for US names, 10 bps for EU, 20 bps for Warsaw (GPW) - the conservative end of typical half-spread-plus-fees for liquid names; market impact and FX conversion are not modelled (negligible at retail size, understated for large money). (3) Prices are total-return (dividends reinvested) where the data feed supports it. (4) Sharpe and Sortino use a flat 3%/yr cash (risk-free) rate, approximately the average US T-bill yield over the backtest window; actual cash rates varied 0-5% within it and Polish rates were mostly higher, so ratios are approximate. (5) Cross-market calendar gaps are bridged by carrying the last known price forward, which can modestly understate day-to-day volatility. (6) Rebalances are simulated at the same closing price the signal is computed from (close-to-close execution); a live follower trades at the next session's prices, so simulated results may differ from what next-bar execution would have produced. Past simulated performance does not predict future results.
Hover any metric above — I'll explain what it means.
How you'd carry it out in your broker
Every model portfolio update publishes as a plain list of tickers and weights — the exact same file for every subscriber. Here's the general shape of loading that into four popular brokers; the actual tickers and weights only appear once you unlock this strategy.
This strategy has averaged 0.5 changes in the model portfolio per month, over its last publications.
XTB, Trading 212, IBKR, Revolut
XTB
- Each published ticker is searchable in the XTB app/web platform.
- XTB has no basket/pie import — each ticker's published weight is its share of the model portfolio; whether and how much to trade is your own decision.
Trading 212
- Portfolio → Pies → Create Pie.
- Each published ticker goes in with its published weight % — the Pie then tracks that allocation for you.
Interactive Brokers (IBKR)
- Once unlocked, the model portfolio downloads as a CSV.
- Classic TWS: File → Import Watchlist reads that file — each ticker's published weight is its share of the model portfolio.
Revolut
- Each published ticker is searchable in the Invest tab.
- Revolut has no basket import — each ticker's published weight is its share of the model portfolio; whether and how much to trade is your own decision.
General information about loading a published, identical-for-everyone list into a broker — not a personal recommendation. Whether and how much to trade is your own decision, in your own account; we never trade on your behalf.
Track record
Chart data (year by year)
| Year | Simulated return |
|---|---|
| 2020 (from Sep) | +8.7% |
| 2021 | +20.1% |
| 2022 | -10.6% |
| 2023 | +14.8% |
| 2024 | +17.2% |
| 2025 | +12.5% |
| 2026 | +8.4% (to 2026-09-30) |
Dashed line = Buy & hold SPY (same window and costs): CAGR 16.3%, max drawdown -24.5%.
Simulated backtest — methodology & limitations above, next to the stats.
This month's model portfolio
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How it works — in plain words
It holds BOTH option-income baskets at once — 50% the covered-call funds, 50% the put-write funds — and re-levels to that 50/50 split once a month. That's the always-on, listed version of the options 'wheel': the classic routine of selling cash-secured puts until you're assigned the stock, then selling covered calls on it until it's called away, on repeat. A real wheel flips between the two sides depending on assignment (path-dependent, impossible to backtest without option chains), so we simply hold both premium-selling sleeves together — same short-volatility income, through real funds with a genuine track record.
Picture the wheel by hand. You sell a one-month put on an index at 97 for $2 while it trades at 100. If it stays up, the put expires and you keep the $2 — and sell another. If it falls to 96, you're assigned: you now OWN the index around 97. So you flip sides and sell a covered call at 103 for $2; if it climbs past 103 the shares are called away (you booked the gain plus premium) and you go back to selling puts. Round and round. Holding the put-write basket AND the covered-call basket at 50/50 captures both halves of that loop at all times.
By put-call parity, 'hold cash, sell a put' and 'own stock, sell a call' have almost identical payoffs. So the wheel isn't two edges stacked — the put-selling half and the call-selling half are one short-volatility position wearing two hats. That's why the wheel basket is a distinct PRODUCT, not a distinct edge, and blending it 50/50 concentrates a single bet rather than diversifying two. The premium you collect is the fee for agreeing to catch the market in a crash and to cap your gains in a melt-up; it smooths the quiet months and gets you paid for the tail. Transferable idea: two 'different' structures with the same payoff share the same risk.
Both underlying benchmarks have long histories with the SAME signature: the CBOE PutWrite (PUT, since 1986) and BuyWrite (BXM, since 1988) indexes each delivered roughly index-like returns at lower volatility — smoother rides, capped upside, and real pain in crashes.
Live since 2026-07-28 through 2026-11-06: -0.8% (3 mo) — the result of the published portfolios, entering at the next session's close. This is not a backtest.
Update history
| As of | What changed |
|---|---|
| 2026-11-01 | Model update: no material change this month |
| 2026-10-01 | Model update: no material change this month |
| 2026-09-03 | Model update: no material change this month |
| 2026-08-03 | Model update: no material change this month |
| 2026-07-27 | Initial model portfolio published (7 position(s)) |
Grounded in published research
The peer-reviewed findings this strategy is built on:
- Whaley, R. (2002). Return and Risk of CBOE Buy Write Monthly Index. Journal of Derivatives, 10(2). (the covered-call side of the wheel: index-like return at lower volatility, upside capped)
- Ungar, J. & Moran, M. (2009). The Cash-Secured PutWrite Strategy and Performance of Related Benchmark Indexes. Journal of Alternative Investments, 11(4). (the put-write side: index-like returns at lower volatility)
- Bondarenko, O. (2014). Why Are Put Options So Expensive? Quarterly Journal of Finance, 4(3). (the source of the premium the wheel collects — pay for bearing crash/tail risk, not free income; and via put-call parity the two sleeves are one bet, not two edges)
A documented, peer-reviewed effect — cited so you can read the source yourself, not take our word for it. Implementation and results are ours (see methodology); the underlying finding is the literature's.
Understand this strategy
Plain-language explainers behind the mechanics above.
This strategy's rules and every model-portfolio update are written and run by HedgeYourOwn's founder.