Option Agent Pro
Free tool · Hypothetical results

Backtest your strategy on 20+ years of data

Pick a ticker and a strategy, set your rules, and see the monthly income, the worst month and how it did in 2008, 2020 and 2022, next to simply holding the shares. Option prices are estimated, so read the limits below.

What it trades

Every choice comes from a fixed list, so results show instantly.

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Estimated option prices
StrategyContracts todayMonthly income (avg)Low (worst month)HighBest monthTotal per year
Strategy, cumulative P/LBuy and hold, same amount
Through the big sell-offs
Year by year
YearStrategyBuy and holdWorst month
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Hypothetical results. These trades were simulated, not placed. Option prices are estimated from the share price and volatility, not real quotes; real credits could have been higher or lower. Exits are checked once a day at the close, so real stops can fill worse on gaps. Past results do not predict future results. Options and futures can lose more than the amount invested. This is an educational tool, not investment advice or a recommendation. Methodology and limits.

How the numbers are made

Methodology and limits

Daily closing prices from January 2005 (later for companies that listed after that) through the last full month. Results are rebuilt every month.

  1. Hypothetical. No trade on this page was placed. Past results do not predict future results.
  2. Estimated option prices. Prices come from the Black-Scholes model. Volatility is the VIX for SPY, DIA and /MES, the VXN for QQQ, and 1.1 × the 20-day realized volatility plus 2 points for everything else, with extra cost for puts below the market. Credits received are cut by 15% and buybacks before expiry cost 15% more, to match what real quotes showed. Real prices could still differ by 10–30% on a given trade.
  3. Daily checks. Entries, profit targets and stops are checked once a day at the close. A real stop can fill much worse on a gap or a fast day.
  4. One position at a time. A new position opens when the last one closes (at the close on expiry day, or the next day after an early exit). Strikes are picked by delta and rounded away from the market; spreads are about 3% of the price wide.
  5. Fees and fills. $1.15 per contract leg to open and $0.15 to close early, nothing at expiry. Share trades pay 0.05% slippage. Thin or wide markets can cost more.
  6. Assignment. Early assignment, dividends on short calls and pin risk at expiry are not modeled. The wheel and covered call deliver shares only at expiry.
  7. Buying power. Contracts are sized from a simple buying-power estimate (spread width, strike × 100 for cash-secured puts, 20% of the share value for strangles, 10% of notional for /MES). Your broker's requirement can be higher and changes in sell-offs.
  8. Survivorship and hindsight. The ticker list is today's large companies, which leaves out ones that collapsed. Settings that look best on past data usually do worse going forward.
  9. Monthly income is profit and loss per calendar month with gains withdrawn, so a fixed amount stays at work. "High" is a good month (9 out of 10 months were lower). Taxes are not included.
  10. /MES results use the S&P 500 index as the underlying with the $5 multiplier. Futures carry the CFTC hypothetical-performance warning shown with the results.
  11. Not advice. This page is general education and does not consider your situation. Talk to a licensed professional before trading.

Price data: Yahoo Finance. Volatility indexes: Cboe via Yahoo Finance.