Getting assigned on cash-secured puts is a natural part of the wheel strategy. When your put options finish in-the-money at expiration, you're obligated to purchase shares at the strike price—and that's when proper position management becomes critical.
Many option sellers struggle with the administrative burden of tracking assignments, updating cost basis calculations, removing collateral from closed positions, and transitioning smoothly into covered call strategies. Without a systematic workflow, it's easy to lose track of your true position costs and make suboptimal decisions on your next trades.
In this guide, we'll walk through a real-world example of managing stock assignments using the MyATMM web application, demonstrating how to efficiently record assignments, adjust your cost basis, and prepare for the next phase of the wheel strategy.
When you sell cash-secured puts, you're committing capital as collateral. Once assigned, that collateral converts into actual share ownership, but your workflow doesn't end there. You need to:
Without a structured process, you risk miscalculating your true cost basis, which can lead to selling covered calls at strikes that don't align with your profit targets or risk tolerance.
Let's walk through the exact process demonstrated in the video tutorial, using MyATMM's cost basis tracking tools.
Start in the Cost Basis section of MyATMM, where all active positions are tracked. This is your central hub for managing ongoing trades and assignments. The platform displays positions with open puts, allowing you to quickly identify which contracts have been assigned.
For each assigned position, input the following details:
Example from video: Assigned on 3 contracts at $150 strike = 300 shares purchased at $150/share
After entering assignment details, click Submit to record the transaction. This updates your portfolio to reflect the new share ownership. Don't forget to click Save to permanently store the changes—this is a common step that can be accidentally skipped when processing multiple assignments.
Once shares are assigned, the cash-secured put collateral is no longer needed in your tracking. Delete the collateral entry to clean up your position list and accurately reflect your available capital for new trades.
This step is critical for keeping your buying power calculations accurate and avoiding confusion about which positions are still active versus fully converted to stock.
After recording the assignment, MyATMM automatically calculates your average cost per share across all transactions for that ticker. This includes:
Example from video: After assignment, the average cost basis was $181 per share, accounting for multiple entries and premiums collected.
With shares now in your portfolio, the next phase of the wheel strategy begins: selling covered calls. In the video example, the trader mentions selling a covered call early on one assigned lot and plans to sell three more covered calls on the newly assigned 300 shares.
This is where knowing your accurate cost basis becomes essential. You want to select call strikes that generate premium while ensuring profitability if the shares are called away.
In the video, the trader demonstrates a common scenario: having multiple contracts assigned at different times. Originally, four put contracts were sold, but one was assigned earlier in the week (Wednesday), while the remaining three were assigned at standard Friday expiration.
This staggered assignment requires careful tracking:
MyATMM's position management tools make it easy to handle these split assignments by maintaining a clear record of each transaction, ensuring you don't accidentally double-count shares or lose track of which lots have covered calls already sold.
When assigned early (before standard expiration), experienced traders often immediately sell a covered call rather than waiting. This accelerates premium collection and keeps capital working efficiently. As shown in the video, getting assigned Wednesday night prompted an immediate covered call sale, maximizing time decay capture.
Managing assignments manually via spreadsheets or brokerage statements creates several challenges:
MyATMM's dedicated assignment workflow solves these problems by providing:
The result? You spend less time on administrative tasks and more time analyzing your next trading opportunity.
Efficient assignment tracking is foundational to successful wheel strategy execution. Remember these core principles:
By following a systematic workflow—like the one demonstrated in this tutorial—you maintain clarity on every position, avoid costly mistakes, and position yourself for consistent income generation through the wheel strategy.
Stock assignments shouldn't feel like a burden. With proper tracking tools and a clear workflow, assignments become seamless transitions from cash-secured puts to covered calls—continuing your income generation without interruption.
The MyATMM platform transforms assignment management from a tedious administrative task into a quick, structured process that keeps you focused on strategy rather than spreadsheet formulas. Whether you're managing one assignment or juggling multiple positions across different tickers, having accurate cost basis data at your fingertips makes all the difference.
Start using MyATMM today to simplify your assignment tracking and take control of your wheel strategy execution.
Stop wrestling with spreadsheets. Use MyATMM to manage assignments, track cost basis, and transition smoothly to covered calls—all in one place.
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