What is a cash-secured put?

A cash-secured put is an options strategy where you sell an out-of-the-money put option while reserving the full cash collateral required to purchase 100 shares at the strike price if assigned.

How does OptimonPro compute the score?

Score = (U / 100) x F x M. U scores the stock (quality, trend, and option pricing), F scores the contract (income for the cushion it leaves), and M is 0.95 when earnings fall on or before expiry, otherwise 1. The weights and minimums are published on the Learn page.

What does downside cushion mean?

Cushion is the percentage the stock can fall from today's price before it reaches the strike. Break-even (strike minus premium) is a little lower. A cushion is a distance, not protection: a price gap can go straight through it.

How OptimonPro Ranks Cash-Secured Puts

OptimonPro scores each put contract on the stock, the contract, and earnings timing, then lists the top 20. Every weight and minimum below comes from the active configuration (version 9d343f604e3e).

The Core Strategy: Cash-Secured Puts

You sell a put and set aside enough cash to buy 100 shares at the strike if you're assigned. You keep the premium either way. If the stock ends below the strike, you buy the shares at the strike.

The Score

Score = (U / 100) × F × M

U, the stock (0–100): quality 50%, trend 40%, option pricing vs. recent moves (VRP) 10%.
F, the contract (0–100): income 60%, cushion 40%, plus 5 points when the 50-day average sits between the strike and today's price.
M, earnings: Contracts with an earnings report on or before expiry stay in the list with a 5% score reduction and an earnings marker. Steady hides them by default, and any risk level can hide them with Skip earnings. Contracts with an unknown or estimated-only earnings date are left out.

The Minimums

Stocks: price at least $10, average daily trading at least $50 million, quality score at least 40 of 100 (from operating profit, free cash flow, debt vs. earnings, revenue growth, trading volume).
Contracts: 14–45 days to expiry, delta 0.10–0.35, bid at least $0.10, open interest at least 10, bid-ask spread at most $1.00 and 20% of the mid price.
Diversity: at most 1 contract per stock in the published list.

Cushion and Break-even

Cushion % = (Current Price − Strike) / Current Price

Break-even = Strike − Premium

The cushion is how far the stock can fall before it reaches the strike. Below break-even at expiry you lose money. A cushion is a distance, not protection: a price gap can go straight through it.

See the current list: today's cash-secured puts.