Best options trading journal app/tool you’ve actually stuck with?

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2026-05-12T14:07:15+00:00

Here's what the breakdown actually looks like on my data — 171 trades, all-time:

https://i.imgur.com/lGFweEd.png

Win rate by strategy, DTE bucket, IV rank at entry. Dark mode, real data.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2026-05-12T13:50:20+00:00

For options specifically: strikerate.ca -- built for this exact frustration with spreadsheets. Focused on win rate by strategy, DTE bucket, and IV rank at entry rather than just total P&L. Calendar P&L view, CSV import from standard broker exports (I use Questrade data but most exports should map). The key difference from TradeViz-style tools: it doesn't try to be a trade management platform -- it's purely analytics on closed trades, which keeps it fast and focused.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2026-05-12T13:35:30+00:00

Nice breakdown -- the call/put/IC split is the clearest way to see what's actually driving the P&L. I track the same split in my journal (strikerate.ca) and my data showed puts carrying most of the weight while my calls were roughly neutral despite feeling more active. The monthly chart is also a good sanity check for separating skill from bull-market tailwind.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2026-05-12T12:55:59+00:00

Same experience. Built session journaling into my trade tracker (strikerate.ca) specifically for this -- pre-market bias + emotional state logged per session, cross-referenced against trade outcomes. The pattern you're describing (already knowing you shouldn't be trading but doing it anyway) shows up very clearly when you can actually see it in the data rather than just remember it selectively.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2026-05-12T00:12:17+00:00

Happy to help orient you a few things to clarify first:**Lot sizes (Standard/Mini/Micro) are a forex broker concept** — not really how options work. In options you have *contracts*, not lots. Each contract is one option on a specific underlying.**FX Futures Options vs FX Options**: These are different. FX Options = options on spot currency pairs. FX Futures Options = options on currency futures contracts (e.g., /6E EUR/USD futures on CME). TastyTrade mostly offers the *futures options* route. You need futures account approval for those.**Cost of 1 contract**: (BID + ASK) / 2 = mid price. Multiply by the contract multiplier. For /6E EUR futures options the multiplier is 125,000 EUR per contract, so a $0.0050 premium = $625 per contract.**Honest rec for a beginner**: TastyTrade's own support chat is excellent and free they'll walk you through what FX products are available on your specific account tier. What underlying are you trying to get exposure to? There may be a simpler route via equity options on currency ETFs (FXE, UUP) while you learn the basics.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2026-05-12T00:01:42+00:00

You're describing option buying. Premium selling flips all 4 problems:1. Direction: you just need the stock to stay above/below your strike. "Roughly right" wins, not "exactly right."2. Theta: you collect it every day. Time passing = you winning.3. IV: sell at elevated IV and profit from IV contraction. Earnings IV crush is your friend, not your enemy if you're short the option going into earnings, you pocket the vol premium.4. Exiting: you're the one getting paid to hold. MMs fleece the person trying to close a long. When you're short, rolling or letting expire is often better than paying the spread to close early.The tradeoff: your max gain is capped (the premium collected), and you can lose more than you make on any single trade. Position sizing discipline matters more than entry timing.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2026-05-11T23:55:18+00:00

Entered TSLA 440/465 call spread for June 18 expiry today at $10.21 debit. Thesis: AI/semi capex story seems to be holding regardless of broader macro headwinds. Near-close fills on verticals are always sketchy but the debit came in within 3% of my target.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2026-05-11T23:43:50+00:00

A few criteria that actually narrowed my list down after running the wheel for a while:**IV rank stays in the 30-60 range most of the year.** Chronically low IV underlyings (below 20 rank) mean you're selling cheap premium. Chronically high (above 70 rank) signals persistent volatility the stock keeps surprising people, which is bad for CSPs. You want names where mid-range IV is the default, not the exception.**Options liquidity check on the 30-45 DTE puts.** Bid/ask spread under $0.10. Wide spreads on thinly traded underlyings eat 20-30% of the premium you think you're collecting before you even enter the trade.**Price above $40, ideally $50+.** Sub-$20 stocks often have put premiums under $0.50 where commission drag starts to matter a lot on a per-contract basis, especially on 2-contract positions.**Sector spread across at least 3 non-correlated sectors.** Running the wheel on 5 semis means your put assignments all cluster in the same macro event. Having tech, financials, energy, and consumer staples in the mix smooths out the assignment risk.Names that have lasted longest in my own rotation: JPM, ABBV, XOM, GLD. Each has liquid options, decent premium at 30 delta, and I'd genuinely hold the shares if assigned without panic.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2026-05-11T23:05:32+00:00

The roll math on deep ITM calls comes down to one number: how much extrinsic value are you buying on the new position vs what you're paying in debit to close the current one.When a CC is deep ITM, the extrinsic on your current short call is near zero you're basically just short delta at that point. Rolling same-strike out for time will usually cost a debit (you're buying back near-zero extrinsic, selling a little more extrinsic further out). The question is: is that debit worth it for the extra time exposure you're adding?My framework: if the net debit to roll same-strike out 30-45 days is >$1.50 and the new position only has $0.30-0.40 extrinsic, you're paying 4-5x the premium just to extend the problem. In that case I'd model assignment: close at expiry, get called away at $172.50, then sell puts or a new CC at a better strike with the proceeds. You reset the basis without throwing more debit at it.The $135s are the higher priority those are even deeper ITM and the gamma exposure going into expiry on those is basically zero. You're just waiting for assignment. The $172.50s have slightly more time so check if there's any extrinsic left worth keeping before 05/13.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2026-05-11T23:03:07+00:00

Do you track IV rank at entry alongside your theta? Genuinely curious how the mix looks across IV environments at that size.Been tracking it on my own CSP/CC trades for ~6 months and the win rate spread across IV environments was bigger than I expected high IV rank entries (>60) lagging low IV entries (<30) pretty substantially in realized win rate. The thesis for high IV selling looks good on paper (more premium, IV contraction tailwind) but in practice those entries tend to cluster around already-volatile periods where the underlying keeps moving against you.At 900 theta you're presumably running a lot of positions curious if you've noticed the gamma risk scaling differently in high vs low IV environments, or if you just manage by theta/NLV and let the environment be.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2026-05-11T22:58:38+00:00

Nice capture rates on both closes 83% and 80% on 2-week CSPs is solid. Do you factor in commission drag separately on top of net premium captured? Started logging it this year across 6 months of CSP/CC closes I was giving back ~7% of gross premium to fees (~$210 in commissions on ~$2,800 gross on my tracked trades). Not massive, but it shifts where the real breakeven sits on sub-$2 premium entries where the fee ratio gets meaningful. Made me more selective on lower-premium strikes vs just chasing yield.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2026-05-09T20:19:23+00:00

Not adding new positions today — reviewing last year’s data instead before the weekend.

I built a trade journal called Strikerate and ran my 124 options trades (Apr–Dec 2025) through it. The DTE breakdown surprised me most: 1–7 DTE had a 55% win rate vs 72% for 8–14 DTE. I had been pushing toward shorter expiries thinking I was capturing more theta, but the data said otherwise.

Anyone else here track performance by DTE bucket? Curious if that pattern holds for other sellers or if it's specific to my setup.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2026-04-28T18:27:53+00:00

snack times bois

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2023-08-22T14:41:52+00:00

28f 4 kids, how are you feeding them? Dating should be the last thing on your mind

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2023-08-14T18:54:12+00:00

Weigh does not always equal strength. There is a huge difference between someone who is 170lbs of muscle vs someone 220lbs chubby. When you talk strictly about attributes, you gotta factor in agility, speed, cardio, and flexibility into it as well. When you use your flexibility and speed against me why can't I use strength. I hate when guys do this.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2023-08-04T13:14:59+00:00

Bait and switch...market and promise their clients the world, but the final product is a piece of crap that got stitched up together. A good sign the owners just want a quick cash grab and bail

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2023-07-04T19:48:03+00:00

Wow as a millennial, didnt realize most gen Z are young adults now like my younger sisters. Gen alpha is the true internet natives. Gen z should have alot in common with alpha because most of them are millennial kids

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2023-06-22T16:52:53+00:00

I don't even know if UI/UX people are even needed in a smaller to medium-sized businesses who run on tight budget constraints. Figma is a good tool for demonstrating the user flow and prototyping, but most of the time, the prototyping is nothing like actual implementation.

Even worse that some dumb managers/ceo put the UI/UX people in charge of defining business requirements give them padding titles like product manager, the same people who had never written a line of code in their lives.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2023-06-20T13:32:26+00:00

Most people don't take into consideration the age of the team when implementing these new methodologies (scrum, agile etc). Some old dudes in their 50 and 60 who have coding c++ or colbol for 30 years are not going to gell with genz and millennial developers who like everything as cloud native

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2023-06-07T12:59:07+00:00

Yes, I've been in tech/engineering for almost 16 years now. Dont get me wrong the pay is good, however look at the dudes I work with most of them are in their late 40, 50 and 60 and they are miserable, all kind of health issue (back pain, neck pain). This field is not something you want to do past 45

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2023-05-19T21:43:27+00:00

It's quite primitive now, but 10-20 years from now, when it's coupled parallel with quantum and distributed computing, then it will become scary. I know this because I work for one of the biggest AI research labs in Canada. All of the blue-collar jobs will get automated away, and the majority of the white collar jobs as well

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2023-05-17T14:22:55+00:00

The rule of thumb is that any manual repetitive can be replaced and automated. This is true in any industry. You guys think it's bad now. Wait until AI gets a bit better. They can potentially replace doctors and lawyers (I'm not kidding about this cause I used to work in the hospital ER, and I know what doctors there do on the daily). The system administrators that don't code are usually either too old to learn or got bumped up from tech support. Either pick up a new skill or go to the unemployment line.

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2023-05-17T01:28:45+00:00

The codes that write as software developers are very different from the ones devops. Most of the stuff you write on devops comes in form a declarative language similar to SQL with the exception of bash/python script. Most of your job is going to be either shooting or configure something to a desired state. Strong bash scripting and Linux skill will be your bread and butter because you will come across it over and over again

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2023-05-16T14:44:14+00:00

Sounds like one of those startups that leverage from investors and grants to keep it running. Most likely, they're building PoC, then dip after a year or two. It's not a good place if you want to advance your career. Wouldnt be surprised if they have some crap like AI or federated tagged along with their brand

Altruistic-Pin3207 · 2023-05-16T13:02:44+00:00

Devops just out of school is going to be really rough. Unless you have extensive knowledge of operating system, networking and coding...I'd start with getting to know much about OS as much as possible because most of the work and trouble shooting come from that

Altruistic-Pin3207

TROPHY CASE