📨 Welcome Note

Building The Option Premium, Together

Momentum continues to build here at The Option Premium. The YouTube channel is steadily taking shape, and while I don’t believe in rushing content for the sake of speed, I do believe in releasing work that is genuinely useful. The first videos will be worth the wait. Alongside that, I’m laying the groundwork for courses and live webinars, tools designed to go beyond surface-level tips and provide real, lasting value. My goal remains the same: to build this the right way, without shortcuts or gimmicks.

What has struck me most in these early months is the community that’s formed around this effort. When I first started, I didn’t know how many people would connect with the vision. The response has exceeded anything I could have imagined. Your feedback, encouragement, and participation have given this project its foundation. For that, I’m deeply grateful. As a small gesture of thanks, everyone who joined during this early stage will have their subscription price locked in for life.

This is still a grassroots endeavor, and your involvement continues to shape its direction. If you’d like to take part:

📺 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.

We’re building something meaningful here, brick by brick. I’m honored to have you alongside me on this journey, and I look forward to what’s ahead.

Andy

✉️ A Quick Note to All Weekly Subscribers

Since May 1, the S&P 500 has climbed about 13.3%. Solid, but our Wealth Without Shares portfolios have done nearly twice that, compounding a +29.8% return over the same stretch.

Put it in dollar terms: if you had placed just one contract in each of our nine positions, the initial cost was $21,910. Today, those trades are worth $28,432. That’s $6,522 in profit in just 4.5 months, an annualized pace of roughly 95.5%. And the kicker? Access costs just $495 a year.

The edge isn’t about chasing the next hot stock. It’s about structure. By anchoring in deep-in-the-money LEAPS and methodically selling premium through Poor Man’s Covered Calls, we’ve built a capital-efficient system designed to compound steadily through any market narrative. Big winners like Apple (+48.8%), Johnson & Johnson (+43.3%), and Chevron (+36.2%) shine, but even slower movers like Cisco and Merck quietly deliver reliable income.

That’s the essence of Wealth Without Shares: stock-like returns, or better, at a fraction of the capital. By replacing 100 shares with a single deep ITM LEAPS contract, you cut capital requirements by 65 to 85%. That efficiency unlocks diversification across multiple sectors while keeping cash free for new opportunities. It’s flexibility traditional covered calls simply can’t match.

For traders looking to do more with less, Wealth Without Shares was built for you.

And if you’re newer to options, or just want a straightforward path to premium income, our sister service, The Income Foundation ($9/month), has quietly gone 14-for-14 since May. That’s a 21.2% cumulative return, or $997 per contract, by running the classic Wheel Strategy.

👉 Both services prove the same point: you don’t have to predict where the market goes. You just need the right structure.

📊 Market Commentary & Snapshot

Rate-Cutting Cycle Resumes: More Questions Than Answers

The Fed delivered its first 25 bps rate cut of 2025, marking the start of a new easing cycle after nearly a year on pause. The move was billed as “risk management,” aimed at cushioning a labor market showing worrying cracks: private payroll growth has slowed to levels usually seen before recessions, job openings now trail unemployed workers, and unemployment continues to creep higher.

Markets welcomed the cut, but the future path is murky. FOMC members remain split on timing and extent of further easing, leaving investors to parse each new data point on jobs, inflation, and growth. The ambiguity may fuel bouts of volatility even as equities grind near record highs. Bond markets, meanwhile, have already priced in aggressive easing, with the 10-year Treasury yield pinned near the 4.0% to 4.5% range.

Options Lens

• 📉 Lower rates compress IV. As borrowing costs ease, volatility tends to bleed out of the system, shrinking premiums for sellers. This makes timing critical: lean on defined-risk credit spreads when IV gets too cheap.

• ⚖️ Uncertainty = opportunity. The Fed’s vague guidance should inject bursts of volatility around each major jobs or CPI release, fertile ground for short strangles, iron condors, and earnings-style volatility plays.

• 🧩 Small-cap rotation. The Russell 2000 just hit a new all-time high, fueled by rate sensitivity. Wheel strategies and PMCCs in quality small and mid-cap names may outperform mega-cap tech covered calls.

• 🏦 Sector angles: Financials gain from a steeper curve, consumer discretionary benefits from tax cuts and easing, and health care remains undervalued, all attractive setups for premium-selling strategies.

Bottom Line

The Fed has begun cutting, but with no clear roadmap. For options traders, that means opportunity lives in the uncertainty itself. Premium sellers should stay selective, favor risk-defined spreads in calm periods, and keep dry powder for the volatility spikes that ambiguous Fed policy inevitably creates.

📈 Weekly Market Stats

📰 Weekly In-Depth Articles 

🗓️ Tuesday, September 16th - A Historical Look at Volatility, And How Smart Options Traders Profit From It

🗓️ Thursday, September 18th - The Hidden Risk Options Traders Rarely See: Surviving the Sequence

🎓 Options 101: The First Steps to Trading

The Wheel Strategy Explained Step by Step (and Why to Focus on Stocks Under $100)

This week’s Options 101 article breaks down the Wheel Strategy, one of the most practical ways for traders to generate consistent income while acquiring stocks at a discount. Instead of chasing speculative calls and puts, the Wheel creates a repeatable cycle: sell cash-secured puts to enter, sell covered calls once assigned, and repeat.

A key rule I follow, and one I recommend for beginners, is to focus on stocks trading under $100. Lower prices make the Wheel more accessible, allow better diversification, and keep risk manageable.

The article walks through the step-by-step process, common mistakes to avoid, and why assignment isn’t failure but part of the plan.

Takeaway: The Wheel isn’t about predicting direction, it’s about being paid to wait. For new traders, stocks under $100 make this timeless strategy both practical and sustainable.

👉 Read this week’s Options 101 article to learn exactly how the Wheel works and why it should be in every trader’s toolkit.

🧠 Mental Capital

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

Annie Duke and the Mental Game of Probabilistic Thinking

Why Reframing Trades as Bets Protects Your Edge

Most traders fall into the trap of binary thinking, “I was right” or “I was wrong.” It feels natural, but it quietly drains your mental capital and distorts your decision-making.

Annie Duke, poker champion and author of Thinking in Bets, shows us a better lens: treat every trade as a probabilistic bet. Selling a 30-delta put isn’t a guarantee, it’s a 70% bet. A loss doesn’t mean the decision was bad; it simply means the 30% showed up this time.

When you judge yourself by process and probability, not single outcomes, you preserve discipline, survive streaks, and keep your confidence intact. That’s how professionals endure hundreds of trades without burning out.

👉 Read the full article here and see how probabilistic thinking protects your mental capital.

📊 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

1) Where Premium Sellers Should Be Looking

Opportunities remain scarce, but a few ETFs still show both elevated IV Rank and tradable RSI zones (40-65):

• KRE (Regional Banks) - IV Rank: 25.6 | RSI(7): 55.3
  Mid-level premium with RSI right in range.

• XBI (Biotech) - IV Rank: 15.6 (low-mid) but RSI(7) at 61.0, worth monitoring if IV ticks higher.

• RSP (Equal Weight S&P 500) - IV Rank: 30.3 | RSI(7): 57.6
  Solid setup for premium with mean-reversion appeal.

2) RSI Extremes

Overbought and oversold signals flashing across multiple sectors:

• RSI (2) > 90 - Short-term blow-offs
  QQQ 95.2 | URA 95.4 | VTI 94.4 | XLK 93.7 | SPY 91.0 | XLF 90.0 | DIA 87.1 | SLV 84.3 | XLI 82.2 | HYG 82.0 | GLD 74.4 | GDX 93.1

• RSI (7) > 70 – Mid-term stretched
  QQQ 84.2 | SPY 78.6 | SMH 78.6 | VTI 81.0 | XLK 82.0 | URA 82.4 | GDX 81.2 | GLD 73.1 | SLV 72.3

• RSI (14) > 70 – Sustained trends
  QQQ 73.7 | SPY 71.2 | VTI 72.8 | XLK 72.5 | URA 75.2 | GDX 79.0 | GLD 73.1 | SLV 70.1 | SMH 70.8

3) VIX & Market Volatility

• For now, hedges remain cheap, but expect sharp repricing if equities wobble.

4) Hidden Edge - Unusual Combinations

• XLP (Staples) - IV Rank 42.4 with RSI(7) at 35.6. Rare case of high premium with oversold momentum.

• XLB (Materials) - IV Rank 29.0 with RSI(7) at 44.9. One of the few “quiet but actionable” edges.

• IYR (Real Estate) - RSI(2) at 5.9, deep oversold, but IV Rank only 24.0. Options thin, directional bias more compelling.

5) Final Signals from The Implied Truth

• Premium remains scarce. Outside of URA, KRE, and a few sector ETFs, most of the board is sitting in single-digit IV Ranks.

• Watch for contrarian trades. Treasuries (IEF/TLT) and Real Estate (IYR) are flashing deep oversold RSIs but offer little juice, tactical only.

• The crowding is real. Mega-caps (SPY, QQQ, VTI, XLK) are extended but cheap in vol terms. Traders chasing fades need discipline.

✅ Bottom Line: We’re still in a suppressed volatility regime. True edges are rare, but that’s what makes the discipline of premium selling worthwhile, knowing when not to trade is as valuable as pulling the trigger.

📚 Educational Corner: Options Deep Dive

Why Probability, Not Prediction, Should Guide Every Options Trade

Most traders ask the wrong question, “Where is the market going?” The better question is, “What are the probabilities?” This week’s Educational Corner unpacks why prediction is fragile, while probability gives options traders a repeatable edge.

We explore how to:

• Use options pricing as probability math, not fortune-telling.

• Think like a casino, stacking small edges over thousands of trades.

• Protect mental capital by judging process, not single-trade outcomes.

• Layer strategies like PMCCs, the Wheel, and condors to build a portfolio of probabilities.

The takeaway: trading isn’t about calling tops or bottoms, it’s about playing the odds with discipline, sizing, and consistency. Prediction may feel exciting, but probability is what pays.

👉 Read the full article: Why Probability Should Guide Every Options Trade

🔗 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