Income strategies › Cash-secured puts
Stop 1 of 7 on the CC Line
Cash-secured puts the 'easy sell put'
Get paid to wait for a lower price on a stock you'd be happy to own. Risk: Moderate
How it works
You sell a put option and keep enough cash in your account to buy 100 shares at the strike price. Someone pays you a premium up front for that promise. If the share price stays above the strike until expiry, the put expires worthless and you simply keep the premium. If it drops below the strike, you may be assigned, meaning you must buy 100 shares at the strike price.
Think of it as placing a "buy below" order and getting paid while you wait. Some broker apps call this kind of trade an easy sell put.
When it earns
Flat or gently rising markets. Time decay (theta) works for you: all else equal, the option you sold loses value every day.
What can go wrong
- Max loss is large: (strike − premium) × 100 if the stock goes to zero. In our example that's US$4,400.
- Assignment: you can be assigned early on US equity options, and you then own shares that may keep falling.
- Capped upside: the most you can make is the premium, even if the stock rockets.
- Tie-up: the cash set aside (US$4,500 here) can't be used for anything else.
Worked example Hypothetical
Fictional stock XYZ trades at $50. You sell one 30-day $45 put for a made-up premium of $1.00 per share (= $100 per contract) and set aside $4,500 cash.
| Scenario (hypothetical) | Outcome |
|---|---|
| XYZ ends at $55 | Put expires worthless. Keep $100. |
| XYZ ends at $45 | Expires worthless (at the strike). Keep $100. |
| XYZ ends at $40 | Assigned at $45; shares worth $40. −$500 on shares + $100 premium = −$400. |
| Breakeven | $44 (strike − premium) |
How fees eat into the premium
Using each broker's published fees from our own data (verified 2026-10-25): the cost to open this example (1 contract in one order) next to the hypothetical $100 credit, and the same trade if the premium were a tiny $0.10 per share. Holding to expiry avoids a closing order; closing early roughly doubles the fees.
Includes commission, platform fee, per-order minimums, estimated US regulatory fees and 9% GST; excludes FX and exchange fees. "Promo" means open-ended promos available to everyone (no new-customer offers). Try your own numbers in the fee calculator →
Where to find sell-put ideas
We don't publish option prices or trade ideas. Several Singapore brokers have built-in screeners inside their apps that filter options by strike, expiry, premium or probability, using live data you're licensed to see as their customer:
- moomoo SG: Its app has an options screening tool marketed as Easy Sell Put, plus a general options screener and strategy builder. moomoo SG (placeholder referral link) · fees
- Tiger Brokers SG: The Tiger Trade app has an options screener / strategy tools for filtering contracts. Tiger Brokers SG (placeholder referral link) · fees
- Webull SG: Webull's app includes an options screener and a strategy builder. Webull SG (placeholder referral link) · fees
- Interactive Brokers SG: IBKR's platforms include market scanners and options strategy tools (e.g. in TWS). Interactive Brokers SG (placeholder referral link) · fees
Feature names and availability change and may depend on your account's options approval level; check in the app. A screener result is not a recommendation. ⚠ Referral links above are placeholders (not live); if they become affiliate links we may earn a fee at no cost to you (disclosure).
The CC Line
Seven option income strategies, drawn as a train line. Board at CC1: each stop builds on the ones before it. Interchange stops combine earlier ones.