Wheel Capital Calculator
How much capital it takes to run the wheel on a given stock.
Your numbers
Current price of the underlying.
Each contract covers 100 shares.
Results
- Capital required
- $12,750.00
- Per contract
- $4,250.00
How it works
The wheel needs enough cash to buy the shares, because being assigned is the plan rather than an accident. Each contract commits you to 100 shares, so the capital requirement scales in $100-per-dollar-of-share-price steps. This is the main reason the wheel is impractical on expensive underlyings — a $400 stock ties up $40,000 per contract — and why most wheel traders work with underlyings under about $100 or use the cash-settled index equivalents.
capital = share price × 100 × contracts
Worked example
Running three contracts on a $42.50 stock requires 42.50 × 100 × 3 = $12,750 set aside.
Common questions
Do I need the full amount up front?
For a genuinely cash-secured wheel, yes. Margin accounts require less, but then assignment can force a margin call, which defeats the point of the strategy.
Does the strike or the share price matter more?
The strike sets the actual obligation, so use the strike you intend to sell for a precise figure. Share price is the right input when you are sizing a candidate before picking a strike.
How much capital do I need to start the wheel?
Enough to take assignment on at least one contract of a stock you want to own — realistically a few thousand dollars for lower-priced underlyings.
Other wheel calculators
- Premium Yield CalculatorTurn a premium into a yield you can compare across strikes and expirations.
- CSP Cash CalculatorHow much cash gets locked up when you sell a put.
- Assignment Probability CalculatorRead delta as a rough odds of being assigned.
- IV Rank CalculatorFind out where today's implied volatility sits in its yearly range.
- Theta Decay CalculatorSee what time decay is worth to you per day.
- Covered Call Max Profit CalculatorWhat a covered call makes if the shares get called away.
- Options Liquidity CheckerCheck whether a contract is actually tradable before you sell it.
- Wheel Position Size CalculatorHow many contracts fit inside your risk budget.
- Wheel Expectancy CalculatorWhat one wheel cycle is worth on average, given your own numbers.
Stop doing this by hand
Wheel Income screens live option chains for cash-secured puts and covered calls, then tracks every cycle from assignment through called away.
Try the screenerFor information and educational purposes only. Not investment advice. Options carry risk, including loss of the entire position.