📨 Welcome Note

New developments are steadily coming together for The Option Premium. Last week I mentioned that the YouTube channel is on the way, progress there has been consistent, and I’m looking forward to sharing the first videos when the time is right. Alongside that, I’ve been mapping out courses and live webinars that will roll out over the coming months. I’m taking a deliberate approach, focused on building this the right way, with an emphasis on real value rather than the marketing gimmicks many services rely on.

What has truly stood out to me over these past weeks is the support from this community. When I first launched The Option Premium, I honestly wasn’t sure how many people would resonate with what I was building. But the growth so far has been better than I could have imagined, and the testimonials, feedback, and encouragement have meant more than I can put into words. I’m deeply grateful for those who’ve joined in this early phase, you’ve helped set the tone for what The Option Premium is becoming. Everyone who joins during this stage will have their pricing locked in for life, a small way of honoring that support.

This is still a grassroots effort, and your involvement makes all the difference. If you haven’t already:

📺 Subscribe on YouTube so you’ll be notified when the first videos are released.
👥 Join the private Facebook group or connect with me on X.
💌 Send me your topic requests, whether for the newsletter, YouTube, or webinars.

The foundation we’re building together is strong, and I couldn’t be more thankful to have you with me as it continues to grow.

Andy

✉️ A Quick Note to All Weekly Subscribers

Since May 1st, the S&P 500 has gained about 12.1%. Not bad for four months. But our Wealth Without Shares portfolios have done nearly double that, compounding a +26.9% return in the same period.

If you had placed one contract in each of our nine Wealth Without Shares positions, it would have cost $21,910 to open. Today, those same trades are worth $27,813, a profit of $5,903 in just four months, or an annualized pace of nearly 80%. All that for an annual subscription of just $495.

The secret isn’t picking the next hot stock. It’s structure. By anchoring our trades in deep-in-the-money LEAPS and methodically selling premium through Poor Man’s Covered Calls, we’ve created a capital-efficient system that compounds regardless of headlines. Winners like Apple (+36.9%), Johnson & Johnson (+46.4%), and Chevron (+39.0%) stand out, but even slower names like Cisco and Merck quietly generate steady income.

That’s the power of Wealth Without Shares: stock-like returns, often more, at a fraction of the capital outlay. By replacing 100 shares of stock with a deep-in-the-money LEAPS contract, you cut the required capital by 65 to 85%. That efficiency means you can run multiple positions at once, diversify across sectors, and still free up cash for new opportunities, something traditional covered calls can’t match.

For traders who want a proven way to do more with less, Wealth Without Shares is built for you.

And if you’re newer to options, or want a simpler path to premium income, our sister service, The Income Foundation ($9/month), has gone 14-for-14 on closed trades since May, producing a 21.2% cumulative return, or $997 per contract, using the classic Wheel Strategy.

👉 Both services prove the same point: you don’t need to guess where the market is going. You just need the right structure.

📊 Market Commentary & Snapshot

Mixed Inflation, Softer Jobs, and the Fed’s Next Move

August painted a nuanced picture: CPI nudged to 2.9% annualized while PPI cooled to 2.6%. Beneath the surface, the labor market softened, ~1M prior jobs were revised away and initial claims hit a 4-year high. Markets now expect a rate cut on September 17; the 10-year briefly touched 4.0%, a YTD low. Cheaper money supports earnings and multiples, but it also keeps valuations rich, a recipe for shallow pullbacks and fast rotations.

Options Lens (Actionable, not hypothetical)

• Fed easing = support, not a guarantee. Expect buy-the-dip behavior; prioritize Wheel and PMCC structures in quality names with durable cash flows.

• Sequence risk is real. Macro prints (inflation, tariffs, labor) can spark episodic vol, prime windows for iron condors and short strangles sized conservatively.

• Sector setups to stalk:

  • Financials: benefit if the curve steepens → covered calls / longer-dated PMCCs.

  • Consumer Discretionary: easing tariff pressure helps margins → bull put spreads near support.

  • Health Care: relative discount + defensive cash generation → covered calls / diagonals.

🔍 This Week Inside

• Tuesday’s Article (Sept 9): The Expected Move, Your Statistical Edge in Options Trading

• Thursday’ Article (Sept 11): How to Pick the Best Stocks for the Wheel Strategy (Pro Guide)

• Options 101: Using Options Spreads to Limit Risk, why pros prefer verticals (credit & debit), bull put & bear call frameworks, and pre-defined max loss.

• Mental Capital: The Psychology of Sequence Risk, wins/losses arrive in streaks; your job is to survive the rough patches without blowing up your edge.

• The Implied Truth (Preview): Where IV is richest, where momentum is stretched, and what that means for premium sellers vs. directional traders. Upgrade to see the full table of 100 equities (AAPL, META, AMZN, NVDA, and more).

✅ Bottom Line

We’re in a supportive policy backdrop with expensive equities and the potential for episodic volatility. That’s a spread trader’s market: define risk, respect the expected move, and press when the setup (IV) + pricing (RSI) + sizing all align. When they don’t, we wait. Patience is a position.

📈 Weekly Market Stats

📰 Weekly In-Depth Articles 

🗓️ Tuesday, September 9th - The Expected Move: Your Statistical Edge in Options Trading

🗓️ Thursday, September 11th - How to Pick the Best Stocks for the Wheel Strategy: A Professional Trader’s Guide

🎓 Options 101: The First Steps to Trading

Using Options Spreads to Limit Risk

Most beginners are drawn to single calls and puts. They look simple, but time decay, volatility shifts, and probabilities stack the odds against you. Professionals take a different approach: they use options spreads, structured trades that limit risk, cap reward, and tilt the odds in their favor.

A spread is simply two options of the same type and expiration but at different strikes. From there, you can build several key variations:

• Vertical Spreads - The foundation: same expiration, different strikes.

• Credit Spreads - You collect premium up front.

• Debit Spreads - You pay premium up front.

• Bull Put Spread - Bullish-to-neutral; profit if the stock holds above support.

• Bear Call Spread - Bearish-to-neutral; profit if the stock stays below resistance.

The advantage? You define your maximum profit and maximum loss before you enter. That discipline prevents catastrophic mistakes and forces you to think in probabilities instead of predictions.

👉 Read this week’s Options 101 article to learn how to use spreads to limit risk.

🧠 Mental Capital

Train not just your trading system, but your trading self.

The Psychology of Sequence Risk

Why Your Wins and Losses Arrive Out of Order

Traders love to talk about win rates. “My strategy wins 70% of the time.” Sounds like steady profits, right? The cruel joke is that those wins and losses almost never arrive in order. You could face ten losses in a row before the math evens out. That’s sequence risk, and it destroys more traders’ accounts (and sanity) than bad strategies ever do.

The truth:

• Winning streaks inflate confidence.

• Losing streaks crush it.

• Both lead to mistakes that erase your edge.

The real skill isn’t finding the perfect setup, it’s surviving the streaks. Smart sizing, risk-defined trades, and protecting your mental capital are what keep you standing long enough for probabilities to pay.

👉 Read the full article at The Option Premium

📊 The Implied Truth: Weekly Table Overview

Unlock the Full Picture – Upgrade to access the complete table, including all 100 equities (AAPL, META, AMZN, NVDA and more)

Every number tells a story. Each week, we decode the landscape across the most liquid ETFs, because this is where retail traders get the cleanest signals and the least slippage.

But the power isn’t in the data, it’s in how you interpret it.

Below is your edge: a strategic overview that reveals where the premium is overpriced, where price action is exhausted, and where the highest-probability setups exist for the coming week.

This section is here to help you choose what works for your strategy. The numbers are facts, not opinions. Whether you sell premium, buy directional spreads, or trade reversals, the edge begins with understanding volatility and momentum. Let’s dig in.

What This Table Tells Us

• Use this weekly to guide your trade ideas, not predict outcomes.

• The data is factual. There’s no opinion in this grid, only opportunity.

• Choose what aligns with your timeframe, risk appetite, and edge.

Quick Reference

📊 Breadth & Indices

• SPY $657.41 – RSI(14) 67.7, IV Rank 11.1 → Neutral, steady.

• QQQ $586.66 – RSI(2) 99.3, IV Rank 13.7 → Tech stretched.

• IWM $238.34 – RSI(14) 62.3, IV Rank 11.4 → Small caps lagging.

⚡ Volatility Signals

• VIX 14.76 – Impl Vol 125%, HV 82% → Surface calm, hidden hedging.

• URA $42.05 – IV Rank 52.6 → standout volatility premium.

• GDX $69.75 – IV Rank 37.5, RSI(14) 82.3 → crowded, high-vol setup.

• XLP $80.32 – IV Rank 38.5 → defensive staple unusually rich in vol.

🥇 Overbought Extremes
RSI (2) > 90 – Short-term blow-offs
QQQ 99.3 | SMH 99.0 | IBIT 95.9 | SLV 94.7 | GDX 94.5 | XLU 94.1 | SPY 92.2

RSI (7) > 70 – Mid-term stretched
QQQ 75.7 | SPY 74.5 | XLK 74.4 | SMH 74.1 | VTI 73.6

RSI (14) > 70 – Sustained overbought trends
GDX 82.3 | GLD 76.9 | SLV 73.3 | SPY 67.7 | VTI 67.7 | QQQ 66.2 | XLK 64.8 | SMH 64.3

🎯 Trading Lens

• Premium selling: URA, GDX, XLP → high IV + stretched momentum.

• Directional: QQQ, XLK → strong trends with relatively low vol cost.

• Risk Watch: Breadth divergence, overbought metals & tech, and VIX complacency all point to fragility.

📚 Educational Corner: Options Deep Dive

Hedging a Poor Man’s Covered Call - Protective Puts, Spreads, and Tail Risk Overlays

The Poor Man’s Covered Call (PMCC) is loved for its capital efficiency, but efficiency isn’t invincibility. When markets turn, the leverage inside a PMCC can magnify losses just as quickly as gains. This week’s Educational Corner shows how professionals protect PMCCs with three proven tools:

• Protective Puts - simple insurance that defines your downside.

• Spreads - verticals, diagonals, and ratio backspreads that reduce cost while keeping protection.

• Tail Risk Overlays - VIX calls and deep OTM index puts that kick in when markets crash.

The takeaway: hedging a PMCC isn’t optional, it’s what separates disciplined traders from gamblers. With the right hedges, you can preserve capital, protect mental discipline, and keep generating income without fear of a single drawdown wiping out months of gains.

👉 Read the full article: Hedging PMCCs with Protective Puts, Spreads, and Tail Risk Overlays

Also check out my new comprehensive report on Poor Man’s Covered Calls. Let me know what you think. Poor Man’s Covered Calls: The Definitive Guide

🔗 Let’s Stay Connected

Have questions, feedback, or just want to say hello? I’d love to hear from you.
📩 Email me anytime at [email protected]

📘 Join the conversation on Facebook.
📺 Subscribe to the YouTube channel.

Thanks again for reading. I hope you found today’s insights valuable and worth your time.

Trade Smart. Trade Thoughtfully.
Andy Crowder
Founder | Editor-in-Chief | Chief Options Strategist
The Option Premium