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HYG 21-Day Rule research

Public recipe: cash-secured wheel sized to equity, 35 DTE / 2% OTM puts and calls, manage at 21 DTE. Simulated window 2024-09-27 to 2026-09-25.

This page is a published historical simulation for HYG — two paired wheel runs, identical inputs, one managed at 21 DTE. On this simulation the 21-Day Rule finished -3.3 pp behind holding to expiry — managing early hurt here.

Arm-by-arm comparison

MetricStandard (hold to expiry)21-Day RuleDelta
Total return3.0%-0.4%-3.3 pp
Annualized return1.5%-0.2%-1.7 pp
Buy-and-hold return-3.1%-3.1%0.0 pp
Max drawdown (from peak equity)5.0%5.3%+0.3 pp
Assignment rate25.0%12.0%-13.0 pp
Call-away rate11.1%10.0%-1.1 pp
Average cycle return0.4%-0.0%—
Entry fills priced from real option bars47%42%—
21-DTE buy-backs priced from real option bars—36%—

Drawdown

Standard max drawdown 5.0% vs rule 5.3% (+0.3 pp).

Assignment

Assignment rate 25.0% standard vs 12.0% rule; call-away 11.1% vs 10.0%.

Fallbacks

The rule arm held 0 of 45 short options to expiry because no 21 DTE price was available for the buy-back.

Data quality

Real option bars priced 47% of the standard arm's entry fills, 42% of the 21-Day arm's, and 36% of its 21 DTE buy-backs. The rest are modelled from implied or realized volatility.

Problem

A single ticker result is context, not a verdict

One ticker and one window cannot prove a rule works everywhere

Simulated fills can differ from what a real order would have gotten

The rule arm sometimes cannot exit at 21 DTE and falls back to expiry

A stale or failed refresh removes this page instead of updating it

Solution

What this paired simulation produced

Rule delta

On this simulation the 21-Day Rule finished -3.3 pp behind holding to expiry — managing early hurt here.

Drawdown

Standard max drawdown 5.0% vs rule 5.3% (+0.3 pp).

Assignment

Assignment rate 25.0% standard vs 12.0% rule; call-away 11.1% vs 10.0%.

Window and freshness

Period 2024-09-27 to 2026-09-25, refreshed 2026-09-27. This page disappears when the data goes stale.

How it works

Get started in 3 simple steps

1

Read the two arms side by side

The table below lists both arms metric by metric, with the rule delta signed — positive means the rule finished ahead.

2

Check the honesty block

Fallback counts, missing-pricing counts, and data-quality status come from the stored run and stay visible.

3

Run your own recipe

Open the gated wheel backtest for HYG and change DTE, OTM, dates, or the management rule itself.

Key Metrics

Standard total return

3.0%

21-Day total return

-0.4%

Rule delta

-3.3 pp

Real-bar entry fills (21-Day arm)

42%

Limitations

Premiums may include model fills (BSM/IV) when market quotes were missing.
  • Simulated results of one fixed recipe over one historical window.
  • The rule arm could not exit at 21 DTE on 0 short options and held those to expiry.
  • Modelled pricing: real option bars priced 47% (standard) and 42% (21-Day) of entry fills and 36% of 21 DTE buy-backs; the rest used implied or realized volatility where market quotes were missing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about getting started

Did the 21-Day Rule help on HYG?

On this simulation the 21-Day Rule finished -3.3 pp behind holding to expiry — managing early hurt here. This is one fixed simulated recipe over one historical window — not a claim about future results.

What recipe was simulated?

A cash-secured wheel sized to equity, 35 DTE / 2% OTM puts and calls, manage at 21 DTE. Both arms run the same wheel on the same ticker, dates, strikes and market-data policy. The only difference is that the 21-Day arm buys every short put or call back at 21 DTE instead of holding it to expiry: a put that is in the money at that point takes the shares at that day's close, and a call that is in the money delivers them. Each put is sized to the account's cash, so neither arm uses leverage.

Is this income HYG or I would have collected?

No. These are simulated results of a mechanical recipe. Nothing here is collected premium, a live trade tape, or a prediction.

Why does this page sometimes 404?

The page exists only while a fresh, successful research run published this ticker. A failed or stale refresh, or a run below the publication thresholds, removes it.

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