Put Credit Spread on QQQ Strategy
$500 per week. Defined risk. Consistent rhythm.
UPDATE — Jan 10, 2026
This strategy has been archived:
QQQ Weekly Trades — Strategy Results and Final Wrap-Up
The content below remains for historical and educational context.
Each Friday, I sell a put credit spread on QQQ.
The structure is always the same:
I sell a PUT that brings in ~$0.55–$0.60 in premium
I buy a PUT that’s 25 points lower, for around ~$0.05
→ Net credit: around $0.50, or $500 for a 10-lot position.
In most weeks, that’s all it takes.
If QQQ doesn’t sell off hard, both options expire worthless — and I keep the full premium.
🔹 Why QQQ
QQQ — officially known as the Invesco QQQ Trust — is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the Nasdaq-100 index. It holds the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq, including tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia.
This strategy is built specifically around QQQ — not individual stocks, and not other indexes. Here’s why:
High liquidity → tight bid/ask spreads, smooth fills
Stable behavior → rarely gaps violently or reacts to single-stock events
Strong premiums → even far OTM options carry enough value
No earnings risk → it's an ETF, so no surprise quarterly reports
Consistent expirations → perfect for a Friday-to-Friday weekly cycle
It’s also highly scalable: whether you trade 1 spread or 10, the mechanics remain the same — just size it to your account.
🔹 Part 1 — When things go smoothly
Based on historical behavior, in about 80% of weeks in a year, QQQ:
rises,
moves sideways,
or pulls back only slightly — staying above the short put strike.
That’s enough for the spread to expire out-of-the-money.
The process is simple:
On Friday, I check which strike gives me the right premium
I structure the spread
I let it sit until expiration the following week
No market predictions, no intraday decisions — just mechanics.
It’s a rhythm. A repeatable system, not a bet.
🔹 Part 2 — When QQQ drops below the short PUT
Of course, sometimes QQQ breaks through the spread by expiration.
When that happens, I don’t hold into assignment.
I close the spread on expiration day, taking the loss (~$470), and shift into the protection phase.
Here’s what that looks like:
Buy back the losing spread, locking in the drawdown
Buy a long-dated QQQ CALL (for example, December, slightly ITM)
Start selling weekly CALLs at the same strike as the previous short PUT
– Example: if I had sold the 540 PUT, I now sell 540 CALLs each week
This lets me:
turn the loss into an active recovery position,
collect income weekly,
keep going until QQQ climbs back above the short strike.
It’s a classic Poor Man’s Covered Call — a synthetic alternative to the traditional covered call, but far more capital-efficient and well-suited for small accounts.
This strategy is inspired by a great video from SMB Capital, a New York-based prop trading firm.
I’ve adapted it to my process — but the core logic is all there:
consistent weekly structure, with a backup plan when things go south.
Tools That Help
TC2000 — for tracking broader market conditions or timing entries more precisely
OptionStrat — to model spreads, visualize risk/reward, and track delta exposure
Google Sheets — for calculating max profit, risk, and keeping a trade log
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Disclaimer
All content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.Any trades or strategies should be tested in a simulated environment before use.Trading involves risk, and all decisions are the sole responsibility of the reader.