Best Stocks for Cash-Secured Puts: 10 by Yield
Ten cash-secured put candidates ranked by annualised yield on collateral, filtered for options liquidity and a share price a normal account can cover.
The Short Answer
The best stocks for cash-secured puts pay enough premium to justify tying up the collateral, on a company you would genuinely accept owning at the strike. Yield alone is a trap: the highest premiums sit on the names most likely to gap through your strike, which is exactly when assignment stops being a good outcome.
This screen ranks by estimated annualised yield on a roughly 30-delta put 30 days out, then filters for options liquidity (so you can actually close early) and caps the share price at $200 so a single contract does not consume an entire account. Yields are modelled from live 30-day implied volatility, not quoted from a chain, so treat them as a ranking signal rather than a fill you can expect.
ApexVol screens 399 optionable names for this list, requiring a $5+ share price and 1,000+ contracts of average daily option volume before ranking. Ranked by estimated annualised yield on a ~30-delta, ~30-DTE cash-secured put, computed from live 30-day implied volatility. Universe filtered to names above $5 and under $200 with at least 1,000 contracts of average daily option volume. Yield estimates are conservative and assume no early close.
IV rank 63 with 30-day IV at 150%. At $94 a share, one contract needs about $8,960 of collateral at a 5%-OTM strike.
IV rank 39 with 30-day IV at 146%. At $60 a share, one contract needs about $5,741 of collateral at a 5%-OTM strike.
IV rank 92 with 30-day IV at 141%. At $190 a share, one contract needs about $18,089 of collateral at a 5%-OTM strike.
IV rank 83 with 30-day IV at 140%. At $39 a share, one contract needs about $3,706 of collateral at a 5%-OTM strike.
IV rank 80 with 30-day IV at 135%. At $11 a share, one contract needs about $999 of collateral at a 5%-OTM strike.
IV rank 77 with 30-day IV at 132%. At $80 a share, one contract needs about $7,598 of collateral at a 5%-OTM strike.
IV rank 64 with 30-day IV at 123%. At $22 a share, one contract needs about $2,120 of collateral at a 5%-OTM strike.
IV rank 56 with 30-day IV at 124%. At $199 a share, one contract needs about $18,877 of collateral at a 5%-OTM strike.
IV rank 74 with 30-day IV at 120%. At $11 a share, one contract needs about $1,032 of collateral at a 5%-OTM strike.
IV rank 85 with 30-day IV at 123%. At $37 a share, one contract needs about $3,496 of collateral at a 5%-OTM strike.
How We Ranked These Strategies
Ranked by estimated annualised yield on a ~30-delta, ~30-DTE cash-secured put, computed from live 30-day implied volatility. Universe filtered to names above $5 and under $200 with at least 1,000 contracts of average daily option volume. Yield estimates are conservative and assume no early close.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a stock good for cash-secured puts?
Three things, in order: you would be content owning the shares at the strike, the options are liquid enough to close early, and the premium is worth the collateral. The third matters least. A 40% annualised yield on a company you would not hold through a drawdown is not income, it is a leveraged long position you have not priced properly.
How much capital does a cash-secured put need?
Strike price times 100, held in cash. A $50 strike ties up $5,000 per contract until expiration or close. That is why this screen caps share price at $200 — above that a single contract dominates most retail accounts, and concentration risk swamps whatever yield advantage the name offered.
Is a higher IV rank always better for selling puts?
No. High IV rank means options are expensive relative to this name's own past year, which is the right direction for a seller. But IV is usually high for a reason — pending earnings, litigation, a broken story. The screen surfaces the premium; checking why the premium exists is still your job.
What happens if the stock falls below my strike?
You are assigned the shares at the strike and keep the premium, so your effective cost basis is strike minus credit. That is the intended outcome of the wheel: you wanted the shares, you got them at a discount to where they were when you sold the put. It only hurts if you never wanted the shares.
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