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GLD wheel backtest snapshot

Public recipe: 10 DTE / 2% OTM puts and calls, ~2-year simulated window.

Simulated, not collected: this run produced $14,556 in premium over 2024-11-08 to 2026-11-06.

Live broker sync, true cost basis after rolls. No card.

Premium
$14555.62
Total P&L
$11055.62
Assign %
21.9%
Call-away %
31.6%
Cycles
7
Trades
51

Buy & hold vs the wheel

Nov 8, 2024 – Nov 6, 2026

Buy & hold finished $1400.38 ahead of the wheel (earned more: $12456.00 vs $11055.62).

Buy & hold
Buy 100 shares and hold
Wheel strategy
Puts → calls · keep premiums as cash
Profit or loss$12456.00$11055.62
Largest drop$14012.00$9372.00

Try this ticker in the backtest

This page is one fixed recipe (10 DTE / 2% OTM). The interactive tool lets you change DTE, OTM, or dates.

Why this result

This simulation ran 2024-11-08 to 2026-11-06 (51 trades, 7 cycles).

Simulated premium was $14,556. Simulated stock / assignment P&L was −$3,500. Combined realized P&L was $11,056.

Puts were assigned on 21.9% of put trades (7 of 32). Calls were assigned away on 31.6% of call trades (6 of 19).

This simulation’s wheel P&L ($11,056) trailed buy-and-hold P&L ($12,456) on the stored window.

Wheel drawdown was $9,372 on the engine's stored basis; measured as the deepest fall from a P&L peak on the daily P&L series it was $9,372, from the 2026-02-27 peak to the 2026-10-30 trough, and had not got back to that peak by the end of the window. Buy-and-hold drawdown was $14,012 on the engine's stored basis; measured as the deepest fall from a P&L peak on the daily P&L series it was $14,012, from the 2026-01-29 peak to the 2026-10-30 trough, and had not got back to that peak by the end of the window.

On the stored daily series the wheel was ahead of buy-and-hold on 97 of 500 days (19.4%). Its widest lead was $1,263 on 2024-11-15; its widest deficit was −$12,992 on 2026-01-29.

Wheel P&L peaked at $14,506 on 2026-02-27 and bottomed at −$220 on 2024-12-18. Buy-and-hold peaked at $24,794 on 2026-01-29 and bottomed at −$1,137 on 2024-11-15.

Of 51 priced entries, 24 used Black-Scholes fills from implied volatility, and 27 used historical option bars. The engine flagged this run as using modeled fills.

Month by month

MonthWheel P&LWheel change in monthBuy-and-hold P&LWheel minus holdWheel below peakHold below peak
2024-11$249—−$237$486$0$425
2024-12$151−$99−$583$734$800$883
2025-01$1,866$1,715$1,060$806$0$0
2025-02$2,537$671$1,531$1,006$607$894
2025-03$3,478$942$4,018−$540$414$0
2025-04$3,785$307$5,581−$1,796$108$1,182
2025-05$4,313$528$5,564−$1,251$0$1,199
2025-06$4,495$182$5,687−$1,192$0$1,146
2025-07$4,588$93$5,500−$912$0$1,333
2025-08$5,005$417$7,011−$2,006$0$0
2025-09$5,292$286$10,751−$5,459$0$0
2025-10$5,977$685$12,016−$6,039$0$3,503
2025-11$8,330$2,353$13,992−$5,662$0$1,527
2025-12$9,481$1,151$14,835−$5,354$183$2,043
2026-01$13,034$3,553$19,699−$6,665$0$5,095
2026-02$14,506$1,472$23,579−$9,073$0$1,215
2026-03$11,285−$3,221$18,233−$6,948$3,221$6,561
2026-04$11,568$283$17,570−$6,002$2,938$7,224
2026-05$11,522−$46$16,916−$5,394$2,984$7,878
2026-06$7,553−$3,969$12,042−$4,489$6,953$12,752
2026-07$8,957$1,404$12,358−$3,401$5,549$12,436
2026-08$9,757$800$16,046−$6,289$4,749$8,748
2026-09$7,016−$2,741$13,288−$6,272$7,490$11,506
2026-10$5,134−$1,882$10,782−$5,648$9,372$14,012
2026-11$6,808$1,674$12,456−$5,648$7,698$12,338

Cash-secured puts

Trades
32
Assignments
7 (21.9%)
Simulated premium
$9,059
Avg premium
$283

Covered calls

Trades
19
Called away
6 (31.6%)
Simulated premium
$5,497
Stock / assignment P&L
−$3,500

How GLD compares

18 of 45 snapshots show simulated wheel P&L above buy-and-hold over their windows. GLD is not one of them.

Simulated premium equals 131.7% of the combined wheel P&L here; the median across snapshots with positive wheel P&L is 238.8%.

Compared with its precious-metals peers AEM, GDX, NEM and SLV, GLD sits below the peer median put assignment rate of 33.9%. 0 of those 4 peers had simulated wheel P&L above buy-and-hold, while GLD did not.

The separate 21-Day Rule study for GLD uses a longer 35 DTE recipe, so it is not additive to this snapshot. On that study the managed arm finished +7.9 pp ahead of holding to expiry, against a median of +2.0 pp across tickers.

MetricGLDFamily medianRank (highest first unless noted)
Put assignment rate21.9%31.0%33rd of 45
Simulated premium$14,556$10,12819th of 45
Wheel P&L$11,056$2,8289th of 45
Buy-and-hold P&L$12,456$3,9016th of 45
Wheel minus buy-and-hold−$1,400−$49529th of 45
TickerPut assignmentPremiumWheel P&LBuy-and-hold P&LOutcome
GLD21.9%$14,556$11,056$12,456Wheel behind
AEM15.4%$16,317$3,067$10,773Wheel behind
GDX34.5%$7,531$3,931$4,858Wheel behind
NEM42.3%$10,128$2,828$7,587Wheel behind
SLV33.3%$6,250$1,500$1,839Wheel behind

GLD 21-Day Rule study — the other published study on this ticker.

Problem

A snapshot is not a custom backtest

One fixed recipe: no price tape, no trade list, and model fills where quotes were missing

Solution

What this simulation produced

Window

Requested 2024-11-08–2026-11-08; actual 2024-11-08–2026-11-06.

Limitations

Premiums may include model fills (BSM/IV) when market quotes were missing.

Pricing sources: 24 IV / 27 bar

  • Simulated public wheel tool: no commissions, fees, or slippage.
  • Assignment and call-away settled on underlying close at expiry (not option mid marks mid-life).
  • Some entry premiums used synthetic BSM pricing (IV or realized vol) rather than historical option bars.

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about getting started

Did GLD collect this premium?

No. The $14,556 is simulated premium, not cash collected.

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Live broker sync, true cost basis after rolls. No card.