If you do not sell (or "close") a put option you own before expiration, its value will depend on whether it is in-the-money (stock price is below the strike price). In-the-money puts are typically exercised automatically, allowing you to sell the underlying stock at the strike price, while out-of-the-money puts expire worthless.
An option's expiration date is the last day you can exercise your right to buy or sell the underlying stock at the agreed-upon strike price. If you hold your contract until expiration, and it is either out-of-the-money or in-the-money but you choose to not exercise it, the option will expire worthless.
The buyer of the put has the right, but not the obligation, to sell the asset at a specified price, within a specified time frame. The seller has the obligation to purchase the asset at the strike/offer price if the option owner exercises their put option.
In the case of options contracts, you are not bound to fulfil the contract. As such, if the contract is not acted upon within the expiry date, it simply expires. The premium that you paid to buy the option is forfeited by the seller. You don't have to pay anything else.
The 7% sell rule is a stock trading guideline to cut losses quickly, advising you to sell a stock if it drops 7-8% below your purchase price to protect capital, remove emotion, and prevent small losses from becoming catastrophic, a strategy popularized by William O'Neil's CAN SLIM method for growth investing. It assumes that truly strong stocks typically don't fall much below their buy point, so a dip signals something is wrong, requiring you to exit the trade to preserve funds for better opportunities.
Most option traders lose money due to a lack of education, poor risk management, and emotional decision-making, often treating trading as gambling rather than a business, leading to overtrading, chasing quick profits, ignoring volatility (like V-crush), and failing to develop a disciplined, probability-based strategy with stop-losses and proper defense plans. They get caught by high probabilities against them, buying expensive out-of-the-money (OTM) options with low chances of success or failing to manage losing trades effectively.
The 3-5-7 rule in day trading is a risk management framework: risk no more than 3% of capital on a single trade, keep total exposure across all open trades under 5%, and aim for a minimum 7% reward-to-risk ratio (meaning your winning trades should be significantly larger than your losing trades), ensuring capital preservation and consistent profits. This strategy helps traders stay disciplined, avoid emotional decisions, and build a sustainable trading plan by focusing on quality setups and managing risk effectively.
Selling put options at a strike price that is below the current market value of the shares is a moderately more conservative strategy than buying shares of stock normally. Your downside risk is moderately reduced for two reasons: Your committed buy price is below the current market price.
The "60/40 tax rule" (IRS Section 1256) is a favorable tax treatment for certain derivatives, meaning 60% of profits/losses are taxed as long-term capital gains (lower rates) and 40% as short-term (higher rates), regardless of holding period, applying to futures, non-equity options (like index options), and certain other contracts, offering significant tax savings compared to standard equity options. Options for traders include using this treatment on broad-based index options or futures, potentially electing Section 475 for Mark-to-Market (MTM) treatment on securities (while retaining 1256 for futures), and consulting a tax specialist to align strategies with tax efficiency.
Generalization 1 – Sellers of the Put Options are profitable as long as long as the spot price remains at or higher than the strike price. In other words sell a put option only when you are bullish about the underlying or when you believe that the underlying will no longer continue to fall.
SELLING A PUT OPTION (SHORT PUT)
So, a put seller's market expectation is neutral-bullish. Therefore, they want the stock price to remain above the put strike, in which case they would keep the premium collected upfront for selling the option. This would be their profit if the contract expires worthless (OTM).
For call buyers, when call options expire in the money, the resulting share purchase establishes a new cost basis for the stock. For put buyers, if an option expires in the money, what happens is the sale of stock at the strike, which may lock in a capital gain or loss depending on your entry price.
Selling Options During High Volatility
However, selling options during periods of high volatility can be risky because the market is more likely to experience significant price swings, increasing the likelihood that the option will be exercised.
The put owner may exercise the option, selling the stock at the strike price. Or the owner can sell the put option to another buyer prior to expiration at fair market value. A put owner profits when the premium paid is lower than the difference between the strike price and stock price at option expiration.
The "90-90-90 rule" in trading is a harsh reality check stating that 90% of new traders lose 90% of their money within the first 90 days, highlighting the high failure rate due to emotional decisions, poor risk management, and lack of education/strategy. It serves as a cautionary tale, emphasizing that success requires discipline, a solid trading plan, continuous learning, and strict risk control (like risking only 1-2% per trade) to avoid the common pitfalls that wipe out most beginners.
The 84% Rule in trading is a concept where traders re-enter a trade at the same key level with identical parameters (stop-loss, target) after an initial stop-out, expecting an ~84% success rate for the second attempt, especially after a fake-out or liquidity grab, leveraging the idea that the market often respects the original level despite the initial false move. It's a trade management technique to recover losses or capitalize on high-probability setups when price returns to the original thesis, often involving identifying market imbalances like Fair Value Gaps (FVGs) for confirmation.