An Options Trading Plan Example: Three Strategies, One Account
Reviewed by Leon Moyer - Published October 9, 2026 - Last reviewed October 9, 2026
In this lesson
Read a complete multi-strategy trading plan, follow two trades through its rules, and adapt its structure to your own account.
An options trading plan example shows every rule filled in: the account, the strategies allowed, the risk limits, the entry and exit rules for each strategy, what happens after assignment, and when the plan is reviewed. This one is for a hypothetical $25,000 margin account approved for spreads, using three Course 2 strategies. It is an illustration of structure, not a recommended plan.
How to Write an Options Trading Plan, With a Template, in Course 1, gives the blank template. What is new here: several strategies in one plan, capital caps for stock-backed trades, and an assignment branch, tested on two trades. Prices use this module's hypothetical quotes, not model prices.
What does a complete options trading plan look like?
Here is the whole plan, before fees.
Then each strategy gets its rule card.
Cash-secured puts. Entry: a stock on my list, a strike where I would be glad to own it, and a premium of at least 1.5% of the strike. Profit exit: buy back at 50% of the credit. Time exit: close with 21 days left unless I want the shares. If assigned: keep the shares and follow the covered call rules.
Covered calls (after assignment). Entry: only on shares the plan already holds, at a strike at or above my assignment price, so being called away does not lock in a loss on the shares. Profit exit: buy back at 50% of the credit. Ex-dividend: if the call is in the money the day before, accept assignment.
Bull put spreads. Entry: a stated outlook ("stays above the short strike until expiration"), a $5 wide spread and a credit of at least $0.50. Profit exit: buy back at 50% of the credit. Loss exit: buy back at three times the credit. Time exit: 21 days left. Size: floor($500 / max loss).
The example plan's three strategies
Cash-secured put
Sell the 45 put for $0.80
Max profit $80, break-even $44.20
Covered call after assignment
Own 100 at $45, sell the 46 call for $0.50
Max profit $150, break-even $44.50
Bull put spread
45/40 for a $0.60 credit
Max profit $60, max loss $440
Gray line: zero, where the position breaks even. Dashed line: strike. Each sketch shows profit or loss at expiration as the stock price rises from left to right.
Two of the three strategies are stock-backed and can lose thousands in a sharp fall: the XYZ 45 put below can lose up to $4,420. The capital caps limit how much of the account that reaches, not the loss.
How does a trade that ends in assignment run through the plan?
Worked example
Trade 1: a cash-secured put that is assigned
XYZ trades at $48 with 45 days to expiration (hypothetical quotes). The plan allows XYZ, and you would be glad to own it at $45.
- Entry check: sell the XYZ 45 put for $0.80. The premium is 1.8% of the strike, above the 1.5% minimum. Capital: $45 x 100 = $4,500, inside the $5,000 per-stock cap. No earnings before expiration.
- What happens: XYZ falls to $43 at expiration. The put is in the money, so you are assigned and buy 100 shares at $45. Your net cost is $45 - $0.80 = $44.20 a share.
- Where you stand: with XYZ at $43 the position is down ($43 - $44.20) x 100 = -$120. No rule was broken; this is the outcome the plan said it would accept.
- Next rule: the plan now sells a covered call at a strike at or above $45. You sell the XYZ 46 call for $0.50 (a hand-set quote), which sets a break-even on this step of $45 - $0.50 = $44.50 ($43.70 counting the put's premium) and a maximum profit on this step of ($46 - $45 + $0.50) x 100 = $150.
- If XYZ is above $46 at the call's expiration: the shares are called away at $46. Across both steps you made $80 + $150 = $230 before fees. If XYZ keeps falling instead, the shares keep losing, and the covered call premium offsets only a small part of it.
Illustrative and hypothetical. The ticker and prices are invented for teaching, and the figures exclude commissions, fees, margin interest and taxes, which reduce real results. Past or hypothetical outcomes do not indicate future results.
What the plan says happens after assignment
Sell the 45 put
$0.80 credit, $4,500 cash set aside
Assigned at $45
Own 100 XYZ, net cost $44.20
Sell the 46 call
$0.50 credit, only at or above $45
Called away at $46
$80 + $150 = $230 before fees
Assignment was a written branch, not a surprise: the plan knew the stock, the price and the next step before the first put was sold.
How does a losing spread run through the plan?
Worked example
Trade 2: a bull put spread that hits its loss exit
The same week, you open one XYZ 45/40 bull put spread for a $0.60 credit. Its maximum loss is ($5.00 - $0.60) x 100 = $440, so floor($500 / $440) = 1 spread. Total open defined risk becomes $440 of the $1,500 cap.
- Exits written at entry: profit at $0.30 (+$30), loss at $1.80 (-$120), time exit with 21 days left.
- What happens: ten days later XYZ drops to about $44.50 and, with implied volatility up after the drop, the spread trades at $1.80. The loss exit is hit, and you buy it back.
- Result: ($1.80 - $0.60) x 100 = -$120, exactly as planned. The trade lost money and followed every rule.
- Why the size used $440, not $120: had XYZ gapped below $40 overnight, the spread would have opened past the exit and lost close to the full $440. The plan's 2% budget still held.
In the Friday reviews that cover them, both trades score "followed the plan: yes". The spread's $120 realized loss is well inside the $750 weekly limit, and the review notes that both trades depend on XYZ, the kind of overlap the Position Sizing and Portfolio Basics module covers.
Illustrative and hypothetical. The ticker and prices are invented for teaching, and the figures exclude commissions, fees, margin interest and taxes, which reduce real results. Past or hypothetical outcomes do not indicate future results.
How do you adapt this plan to your own account?
Keep the structure; change every number. Three questions do most of the work:
- What can your account carry? In a $10,000 account, one $4,500 cash-secured put is 45% of the balance, so a 20% per-stock cap rules it out. You might use only spreads, or only lower-priced stocks.
- What is your broker approval? If your account is not approved for spreads, the bull put spread section goes. Brokers differ on tiers and on which accounts can hold spreads.
- Which strategies did you choose? The plan should list only the one or two strategies from Choosing Your Strategies, each with its rule card from Writing Rules per Strategy.
Then run it for a set number of trades before changing anything, using the routine in Your Weekly Review.
Check your understanding
You are assigned on an XYZ 45 put you sold for $0.80. What is your net cost per share?
Show answer
$44.20. You pay the $45 strike and keep the $0.80 premium: $45 - $0.80 = $44.20.
Why does the plan only sell covered calls at a strike at or above the $45 assignment price?
Show answer
So that if the shares are called away, they are sold at or above what was paid for them at assignment, rather than locking in a loss on the shares to collect a small premium.
The bull put spread lost $120. Did the trade fail the plan?
Show answer
No. It hit its written loss exit and was closed there, so it followed every rule. A plan is judged on whether its rules were followed, not on whether a single trade made money.
Key takeaways
- A complete plan lists the account, strategies, risk caps, events, a weekly loss limit and a review schedule, then a rule card per strategy.
- Assignment belongs in the plan as a written branch, with the next step decided in advance.
- A losing trade that hits its loss exit is the plan working; size on the worst case so a gap does not break the budget.
- Copy the structure, not the numbers: capital, broker approval and your chosen strategies set every figure.
Common questions
What is an example of a trading plan?
A one-page document listing the account size, the strategies allowed, risk limits per trade and in total, entry rules, profit, loss and time exits for each strategy, what happens after assignment, and when the plan is reviewed. The example on this page fills in every line for a hypothetical account.
How is a filled-in trading plan different from a template?
A template lists the headings; a filled-in plan puts a number or rule under each one, such as risk per trade and total open risk, capital caps for stock-backed positions, profit, loss and time exits per strategy, assignment and event rules, a weekly loss limit and a review schedule.
Can I copy someone else's trading plan?
You can copy the structure, but not the numbers. Risk limits, capital caps and the strategies themselves depend on your account size, broker approval, goals and tolerance for loss, so fill each line in for your own situation.
How strict should a trading plan be?
Strict enough that you can check, after the fact, whether every trade followed it. Rules that leave room for judgment in the moment tend to be bent when a trade is losing, which is when they matter most.