Member tool
What's This Strike Worth?
Comparing put strikes? Type in the premiums from your broker screen — we'll rank every strike by what each dollar at risk actually earns you.
The setup
One stock, one expiry, a few candidate strikes.
Enter a stock price above zero.
Enter zero or more days.
Fill in every strike and premium (premium can be zero).
How the math worksEvery formula, in one line each
Premium collected = bid × 100. One contract covers 100 shares.
Cash at risk = (strike × 100) − premium collected. A cash-secured put sets aside the full strike; the premium is already cash in your account.
Return = premium collected ÷ cash at risk. Annualized = return × 365 ÷ days to expiry.
Breakeven = strike − premium per share. The stock can fall this far and you still break even.
Strikes are ranked best → worst by annualized return — the fairest way to compare, because it puts every strike on the same per-year scale.
What's This Strike Worth?: questions
Straight answers about the trade this tool maps.
How do I compare put strikes?
Type in each strike and its premium from your broker screen. The tool works out what each strike pays per dollar at risk and ranks them, best first, so a higher premium is not mistaken for a better deal. How our own rules choose strikes is in how we pick strikes.
How is the return on a put strike calculated?
Return is the premium collected divided by the cash at risk — the cash you would set aside to buy the shares if assigned. A strike that pays $150 against $9,850 of cash at risk returns about 1.5% for the trade.
Why rank strikes by annualized return?
Annualized return puts every strike on the same per-year scale: the return times 365, divided by the days to expiry. It is the fairest way to compare the premium different strikes pay for the same amount of time.
Does the highest-yield strike mean the best trade?
No. Strikes closer to the price pay more because they are likelier to be assigned. The ranking shows what each dollar at risk earns, not how likely the trade is to work; weigh it against how far the stock can fall before you would mind owning it.
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