The 15 Best LEAPS Articles of the Year

A complete framework for stock replacement and income generation, organized by what you actually need to know

Most traders approach LEAPS backwards. They start with tactics, "Which strike should I buy?", before understanding the strategic logic that makes LEAPS worth using at all.

The result? Scattered knowledge. Expensive mistakes. And the nagging sense that LEAPS should work better than they do.

This playbook fixes that problem. It's the 15 most essential LEAPS articles from the year, organized not by publish date but by how professionals actually think about these trades: foundation first, then selection, then income overlay, then risk management.

Use it like a reference manual, not a blog archive.

Who This Is For

This playbook serves four types of traders:

The capital-efficient investor who wants market exposure without tying up $50,000 per position. LEAPS can deliver similar returns with 15 to 35% of the capital requirement, if you select contracts intelligently.

The income generator who wants to collect premium while maintaining long exposure. The Poor Man's Covered Call transforms LEAPS from static positions into cash-flow engines.

The systematic trader who needs rules-based frameworks that function without constant monitoring. Good LEAPS trading is boring. This playbook keeps it that way.

The burned trader who tried LEAPS once and got crushed by time decay, volatility collapse, or poorly chosen strikes. Most LEAPS failures follow predictable patterns. Understanding them prevents repetition.

How to Navigate This Resource

New to LEAPS? Start here:
Read articles 1→2→3→5→6 in sequence. This establishes the foundational logic: what LEAPS actually are, how they compare to stock ownership, and how to select contracts that behave the way you need them to.

Focused on income generation? Go here:
Read articles 7→8→9→15 in sequence. This covers the PMCC mechanics: selling calls against long LEAPS, choosing strikes that balance premium collection with upside participation, and tracking results honestly.

Need better risk controls? Start here:
Read articles 10→11→12 in sequence. This addresses the management layer: when to roll the LEAPS itself, how to protect downside without destroying returns, and how to build a low-maintenance routine that works for part-time traders.

The 15 Top Articles: Organized by Function

📌 Foundation: Understanding the Tool

1. LEAPS 101: What They Are and Why Pros Use Them, Stock Replacement Explained
The conceptual starting point. Why LEAPS exist, what "stock replacement" actually means, and when substituting options for shares makes strategic sense versus when it introduces unnecessary complexity.
Read article →

2. LEAPS Options: The Complete Guide (Mechanics, Strategy, and Real Use-Cases)
The technical foundation. How LEAPS contracts function, what the pricing components mean, and which variables matter most when evaluating the options chain.
Read article →

3. LEAPS vs. Stock: Why "Efficient Stock" Actually Works
The honest comparison. What you gain in capital efficiency versus what you sacrifice in simplicity, dividends, and unlimited time horizon. The trade-offs matter more than the marketing claims.
Read article →

📌 Selection: The Decision That Determines Everything

4. LEAPS Strike Selection
How to choose strikes intelligently. The relationship between intrinsic value, extrinsic value, and delta behavior, and why volatility environment changes what "appropriate" looks like.
Read article →

5. LEAPS Options Selection Guide: Strike, Expiration, Delta
The systematic checklist. A repeatable process for evaluating contracts the way institutional traders do: by comparing leverage efficiency, time decay exposure, and behavioral characteristics.
Read article →

6. Deep-ITM LEAPS: The 0.75 to 0.85 Delta Playbook
The core stock-replacement approach. Why deep in-the-money contracts (0.75-0.85 delta) behave more like shares, reduce psychological pressure, and keep the position manageable during volatility spikes.
Read article →

📌 Income Generation: The PMCC Overlay

7. PMCC 101: Income Overlay with LEAPS
How to sell short-dated calls against long LEAPS. The mechanics, the risks, and the critical distinction between "generating income" and "capping gains prematurely."
Read article →

8. How to Create "Synthetic Dividends" with LEAPS
Building predictable cash flow from non-dividend-paying stocks. The cadence that works, the strikes that make sense, and the expectations that survive real market conditions.
Read article →

9. PMCC: Expected Move for Picking Short Calls
Eliminating the guesswork from strike selection. Using implied volatility and expected move to choose short calls that pay meaningful premium while leaving adequate upside room.
Read article →

📌 Management: Decision Points and Rolling Rules

10. When to Roll LEAPS Options (The LEAPS Itself)
When the long call needs attention. Decision triggers based on delta drift, extrinsic value decay, and maintaining efficient leverage, not arbitrary time rules.
Read article →

11. LEAPS for Part-Time Traders: A Low-Maintenance Framework
The realistic approach for traders with actual jobs. What to monitor, how frequently, and which signals justify action versus which represent market noise.
Read article →

📌 Risk Management: Building Downside Protection

12. PMCC Collar Strategy: Downside Protection (Without Killing Income)
Adding a protective floor with long puts. How to structure the collar so downside protection doesn't eliminate the income advantage that made PMCCs attractive in the first place.
Read article →

📌 Strategy Integration: Combining Approaches

13. LEAPS and the Wheel: A Hybrid Options Income Strategy
Blending long-duration exposure (LEAPS) with short-duration premium collection (Wheel strategy). How the pieces fit together without creating conflicting risks.
Read article →

14. High IV vs. Low IV: Which Stocks Work Best for the Wheel?
Understanding which underlyings make sense for premium selling. Why "bigger premium" doesn't always mean "better trade", and how to filter for appropriate risk.
Read article →

📌 Real Application: Seeing Theory in Practice

15. Apple PMCC Results: A Real LEAPS Income Strategy Breakdown
An actual trade dissected completely. What worked, what created risk, and which elements deserve replication versus which were specific to that particular setup.
Read article →

📌 Essential Companion Reading

Income Math with LEAPS: Basis Reduction, Yield on Capital, and Realistic Expectations
The "truth serum" article. How to calculate returns correctly, track basis reduction honestly, and set expectations that survive contact with real markets, not marketing brochures.
Read article →

Questions Worth Answering

Are LEAPS safer than stock ownership?
Not inherently. LEAPS offer capital efficiency but introduce time constraints and volatility sensitivity that shares don't face. "Safety" comes from contract selection, position sizing, and understanding what you're actually trading.

What delta should stock-replacement LEAPS carry?
For behavior that approximates share ownership, deep in-the-money contracts (typically 0.75 to 0.85 delta) tend to track price movement more closely and carry less speculative gamma exposure.

How often do LEAPS positions require active management?
Less frequently than most traders assume. Effective LEAPS trading involves long periods (sometimes a few weeks) of inactivity interrupted by specific decision points. The framework eliminates the temptation to tinker. We allow tried and true portfolios to keep the guesswork, that often consume investors/traders, at bay.

If This Resource Proved Useful

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Thank you for reading, for engaging thoughtfully with this material, and, if you choose to, for helping spread the word.

Probabilities over predictions,

Andy

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Educational content only. Not financial advice.