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How much cash do you need to wheel popular stocks?
One wheel position needs enough cash to buy 100 shares at your strike. So the stock's price sets your minimum, not your goals. Here's the table, and a page for each popular name.
The short answer
Take the Strike price of the put you want to sell. Multiply it by 100. That's the cash one Cash-secured put locks up.
A $20 strike needs $2,000. A $100 strike needs $10,000. A $500 strike needs $50,000. The premium you collect lowers that a little. It doesn't change the size of the bet.
That sum is also the stock you'll own if you're assigned. In the wheel strategy, you should want both: the cash tied up now, and the 100 shares later.
Cash per contract, by price band
Stock prices move every day. So this table uses price bands, not quotes. Look up today's price for the name you're curious about, then find its band.
| Strike near | Cash for one put | Share of a $10,000 account | Share of a $25,000 account |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10 | $1,000 | 10% | 4% |
| $25 | $2,500 | 25% | 10% |
| $50 | $5,000 | 50% | 20% |
| $100 | $10,000 | 100% | 40% |
| $200 | $20,000 | Can't do it | 80% |
| $500 | $50,000 | Can't do it | Can't do it |
The last two columns matter most. A $100 stock fits a $10,000 account. But it puts every dollar into one company. One bad report and the whole account moves with it.
Many sellers keep one name to a fifth of the account or less. That's a habit, not a rule. It means a $10,000 account lives in the $10 to $20 band, and a $25,000 account tops out near $50.
What one bad month costs at each size (an illustration, not a trade idea)
The cash isn't the only number. The loss scales too. Here's the same trade at two sizes, on a made-up stock, XYZ.
You sell a 30-day put a little below the price. The premium is about 2% of the strike. Then earnings land inside the trade and the stock falls 20%.
| Strike | Cash locked | Premium | Stock at expiry | Shares vs strike | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25 | $2,500 | +$50 | $20 | −$500 | −$450 |
| $100 | $10,000 | +$200 | $80 | −$2,000 | −$1,800 |
| $100 | $10,000 | +$200 | $100 | $0 | +$200 |
Same idea, same percentages. The bigger stock costs four times as much when it goes wrong. Ask "what does a 20% drop cost me?" before you ask what the premium is.
The margin catch: "buying power used" isn't your risk
Some apps show a small "buying power used" number for a short put. In a margin account it can be a fraction of strike × 100. That's the broker's deposit rule, not your risk.
If the stock falls, you still buy 100 shares at the strike. The loss is the same as in the table above. Margin only lets you open more of them. That's how small accounts end up with five puts they can't all afford to own.
Keep the full strike × 100 in cash, even where the broker would let you use less. The how-much-money calculator adds it up across several positions.
Canada and account types
In Canada, covered calls are widely allowed in a TFSA or RRSP. Cash-secured puts depend on the broker, and options permissions differ from one broker to the next. Check your broker's help page for what your account type allows as of today.
In the US, an IRA usually allows covered calls and cash-secured puts at a basic approval level. The same "check your broker" rule applies.
My page for each popular name
Each page below covers what that ticker is like for the wheel: how often it reports, whether it pays a dividend, any split history, and how hard it swings. None of them is a pick.
Names that split, so the cash per contract dropped:
Big swingers, where the premium is rich for a reason:
- Robinhood (HOOD)
- Covered calls on IBIT, the bitcoin fund
- Coinbase
- Tesla, Palantir, SoFi, AMD
- Micron
- Leveraged funds like TQQQ and SOXL
Index funds:
Dividend payers, where the ex-dividend date matters:
If a name is too big for your account, don't stretch for it. Go down a band. Our stocks under $20 and stocks under $10 pages show what to check when a stock is cheap.
What to do next
- Write down your account size.
- Divide it by five. That's the most cash you'd lock in one name.
- Divide that by 100. That's the highest strike you can sell a put at.
- Pick a name in that band that you'd be happy to own for a year.
- Work out the 20% drop on paper before you sell anything.
Questions
How much money do I need to wheel a $100 stock?
About $10,000 for one put at a $100 strike, minus the small premium. You need that much because you may have to buy 100 shares at the strike. If that's most of your account, the stock is too big for it.
Why does my broker say I only need a few thousand dollars?
That's margin. The broker asks for a deposit, not the full price. Your loss if the stock falls is the same either way, so plan around strike × 100.
Can I wheel expensive stocks with a small account?
Not with one full contract. Some people use a lower-priced stock or an index fund instead. Others wait until the account is big enough. Stretching into one name you can barely afford is how one bad report becomes the whole account.
Does a stock split make the wheel cheaper?
It lowers the cash per contract, because each share costs less. The company is worth the same, and the stock swings just as hard in percentage terms. See our Netflix page for how that played out.
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