Quick Position Entry: Track Multi-Leg Options Without the Hassle

Introduction: The Challenge of Multi-Leg Option Tracking

If you trade multi-leg option strategies like iron condors, vertical spreads, or strangles, you know the frustration of trying to track them. Each strategy involves multiple strikes, multiple expirations, and multiple legs that your brokerage bundles into a single transaction. When you look at your account statement, you see one line item with slashes between the strikes rather than four separate options.

The traditional approach to tracking these positions requires entering each leg individually. For an iron condor, that means creating four separate position entries: the put credit spread (two legs) and the call credit spread (two legs). This process is tedious, time-consuming, and frankly unnecessary when all you really need to know is the net credit received and when the position expires.

MyATMM's Quick Position feature solves this problem by letting you enter multi-leg strategies as a single transaction. You can copy the description directly from your brokerage platform, paste it into MyATMM, and track the entire position without breaking it apart. This tutorial walks through exactly how to use this feature to streamline your options tracking workflow.

Why Multi-Leg Strategies Need a Different Approach

When you execute a covered call or a single cash-secured put, entering the position in a tracking system is straightforward. You have one strike, one expiration, one premium amount. The data entry mirrors the simplicity of the trade itself.

Multi-leg strategies are different. Consider what happens when you open an iron condor on SPY:

• Sell a put at the lower strike (e.g., $580)
• Buy a put at an even lower strike (e.g., $575) for protection
• Sell a call at the upper strike (e.g., $600)
• Buy a call at an even higher strike (e.g., $605) for protection

Your brokerage executes this as a single transaction and displays it with a notation like: "SPY 580/575/600/605 Iron Condor Dec 27" with a single net credit of perhaps $1.25. The four legs are inseparable in how the position functions—they're opened together and will be closed together.

Breaking this apart for tracking purposes creates unnecessary work. You don't need to know the individual leg prices because you'll never close them individually. What matters is the net credit received, the maximum risk, and when the position expires. Quick Position captures exactly this information without the tedious leg-by-leg entry.

Common Multi-Leg Strategies

The Quick Position feature works particularly well for these common strategies:

Strategy	Legs	Why Quick Position Helps
Iron Condor	4	Avoids entering four separate positions
Vertical Spread	2	Captures net credit/debit as single entry
Iron Butterfly	4	Same expiration, different strikes tracked together
Strangle	2	Put and call legs entered as one position
Calendar Spread	2	Different expirations captured in description
Diagonal Spread	2	Different strikes and expirations in one entry

Step-by-Step: Using the Quick Position Feature

The Quick Position feature is accessible from the cost basis screen for any ticker in your portfolio. Here's the complete workflow for entering a multi-leg position.

Step 1: Navigate to the Cost Basis Screen

From the MyATMM dashboard, select the ticker where you want to track the position. This takes you to the cost basis screen where you can see your existing transactions and current position status.

Look for the "Quick" button near the position entry area. This is distinct from the standard position entry that asks for detailed strike, expiration, and option type information.

Step 2: Click the Quick Position Button

Clicking "Quick" opens a simplified entry form designed for multi-leg strategies. The form includes these fields:

• Date: When you opened the position
• Description: Free-form text field for the position details
• Contracts: How many iterations of the strategy you executed
• Collateral: Optional field for tracking buying power required
• Price: The net credit received (or debit paid)

Step 3: Copy the Description from Your Brokerage

This is where the real time savings happen. Go to your brokerage platform's account statement or trade confirmation. Find the transaction showing your multi-leg trade. The description will typically show something like:

Copy this description and paste it directly into the Quick Position description field. You can clean it up if you want—remove extraneous details like "100 (Weeklys)" if they're not useful to you—but you don't have to. The description field accepts whatever format works best for your tracking needs.

Step 4: Enter the Key Details

With the description pasted, fill in the remaining fields:

• Contracts: If you sold 1 spread, enter 1. If you sold 5 iron condors, enter 5.
• Collateral: For a $5-wide spread, the max loss is $500 per contract minus premium received. Enter this if you want to track buying power usage.
• Price: Enter the net credit (positive number) if you sold the position, or the net debit (you can use a negative if needed) if you bought it.

Step 5: Save the Position

Click Save to add the position. It appears in the Quick Position group on your cost basis screen, where it will remain until you close it out. This keeps active multi-leg positions visible and separate from your standard single-leg options.

Recording to Transaction History

Adding a Quick Position creates a visible position on your cost basis screen, but you'll also want to record it in your permanent transaction history. This ensures accurate premium tracking and cost basis calculations over time.

Proposed Transactions

When you save a Quick Position, MyATMM automatically creates a proposed transaction with your default commission and fees. This proposed transaction appears in the review area where you can:

• Verify the premium amount is correct
• Adjust commission and fees if needed
• Review the transaction type (option by default)

Click the pointer hand icon to pre-calculate your net premium after fees. Then click Save to commit the transaction to your permanent history.

Closing the Position

When you're ready to close the multi-leg position—whether at expiration, for a profit, or to cut losses—use the same Quick Position workflow:

1. Click Quick to open the entry form
2. Enter the closing date
3. Update the description to reflect the close (or paste the closing confirmation)
4. Enter the same number of contracts
5. Enter the closing price (negative for a debit to close a credit position)
6. Save the closing transaction

The proposed transaction for the close will show a negative amount since you're buying back what you originally sold. Save it to your transaction history, and MyATMM will calculate your net profit or loss on the position.

When to Use Quick Position vs. Standard Entry

Quick Position is a powerful tool, but it's not always the right choice. Understanding when to use each entry method helps you maintain accurate tracking while minimizing data entry time.

Use Quick Position For:

• Iron condors - Four legs that function as one position
• Vertical spreads - Credit or debit spreads with defined risk
• Iron butterflies - Complex positions with multiple strikes
• Day trades - Quick in-and-out positions where detailed tracking isn't needed
• Swing trades on spreads - Multi-day positions that will be closed as a unit
• Any strategy where legs won't be managed separately

Use Standard Entry For:

• Covered calls - Single-leg positions that tie to share ownership
• Cash-secured puts - Single-leg positions that may result in assignment
• Wheel strategy positions - Where tracking cost basis adjustments is essential
• Positions where you might leg out - If you might close one side before the other
• Core portfolio positions - Where detailed history matters for tax purposes

Best Practices for Quick Position Tracking

Getting the most value from Quick Position tracking requires a few good habits that keep your data clean and useful over time.

Consistent Description Formats

While the description field is free-form, using a consistent format makes reviewing positions easier. Consider including:

• The underlying symbol (even if it matches the ticker page you're on)
• The strategy type (Iron Condor, Vertical, etc.)
• The strikes involved
• The expiration date

You can either copy directly from your brokerage for consistency or create your own shorthand that works for you.

Track Collateral When It Matters

The collateral field is optional, but tracking it helps you understand your buying power usage. For defined-risk strategies like vertical spreads, the collateral is the width of the spread minus premium received, times 100 per contract.

For day trades and quick swing trades, you might skip collateral tracking since the position isn't open long enough to impact your overall buying power planning.

Close Positions Promptly

Quick Positions remain visible on your cost basis screen until closed. Make it a habit to record closing transactions as soon as they occur. This keeps your active position list accurate and ensures your transaction history captures the complete lifecycle of each trade.

Use for What It's Designed For

Quick Position is specifically designed for multi-leg strategies and quick trades. Don't use it as a shortcut for positions that should be tracked with full detail. Your covered calls and cash-secured puts deserve proper entry so that cost basis calculations remain accurate.

Conclusion: Simplify Your Multi-Leg Tracking

Trading multi-leg option strategies shouldn't mean spending extra time on tedious data entry. The Quick Position feature bridges the gap between how your brokerage reports these trades and how you need to track them.

By allowing you to paste position descriptions directly from your brokerage platform, Quick Position eliminates the artificial separation of legs that don't need to be tracked separately. Iron condors become single entries. Vertical spreads take seconds to record. Day trades get captured without the overhead of full position creation.

The workflow is simple: navigate to your ticker's cost basis screen, click Quick, paste your brokerage description, enter contracts and price, save. The position appears in your Quick Position group, the transaction gets recorded to your history, and you're ready for the next trade.

For traders who mix single-leg positions like covered calls and cash-secured puts with more complex strategies like spreads and iron condors, having both entry methods available means you can match your tracking approach to each position's complexity. Simple positions get detailed tracking. Complex positions get streamlined entry.

The result is a tracking workflow that respects your time while maintaining the accuracy you need for informed trading decisions. Spend less time on data entry. Spend more time on analysis and execution.