This insight was synthesized by AI from public community discussions. We do not display original user posts or comments verbatim—all content has been rewritten and aggregated. Verify before acting on it.
Covered Call Screener & Cost-Basis Tracker
A SaaS tool that screens tickers for optimal covered-call setups by combining IV-to-HV ratio, dividend yield, bid-ask spread liquidity, and support-level analysis into a single score. It also tracks true premium-adjusted cost basis across rolls and assignments, showing real annualized ROI rather than the inflated numbers traders see when ignoring prior premium.
Why this matters
You are a retail options trader running covered call strategies on dividend stocks and bond ETFs. After getting assigned on multiple positions, you manually track cost basis in a spreadsheet but keep second-guessing whether your return calculations account for all the premium collected on prior puts. Your broker shows cost basis that ignores your option premiums, making positions look worse than they are. You spend hours screening for tickers with high IV rank and good dividends, only to discover after entering that the bid-ask spreads are too wide to roll profitably. When positions move against you, there is no tool to alert you that technical support has broken or that you should cut the trade rather than hold for break-even.
- · Built for Retail options traders running wheel strategies and covered calls on dividend-paying stocks and ETFs, managing $50K-$500K portfolios.
- · Most likely monetization: SaaS subscription.
The Pain · Narrative
You are a retail options trader running covered call strategies on dividend stocks and bond ETFs. After getting assigned on multiple positions, you manually track cost basis in a spreadsheet but keep second-guessing whether your return calculations account for all the premium collected on prior puts. Your broker shows cost basis that ignores your option premiums, making positions look worse than they are. You spend hours screening for tickers with high IV rank and good dividends, only to discover after entering that the bid-ask spreads are too wide to roll profitably. When positions move against you, there is no tool to alert you that technical support has broken or that you should cut the trade rather than hold for break-even.
Score Breakdown
Market Signal
Go-to-Market
Retail options traders actively running wheel or covered-call strategies on dividend-paying equities and ETFs, managing portfolios between $50K and $500K
~75K systematically trading covered calls in the US retail market
Organic content in options trading communities with free screener tool as lead magnet
$29/month for Pro tier with position tracking
50 email signups and 10 paying users within 30 days from community content launch
MVP Scope · 1–2 weeks
- Set up Polygon.io or ORATS options data API integration and validate IV, HV, and Greeks data retrieval for 500+ liquid tickers
- Build CC screener scoring algorithm combining IV/HV ratio, dividend yield, bid-ask spread width, and volume into a 0-100 ranked score
- Create basic web UI with screener results table showing ticker, score, IV rank, dividend yield, spread width, and current price
- Implement user authentication and subscription management with Stripe (free tier + paid tier)
- Deploy MVP to production and create landing page with screener as free lead magnet
- Build position entry form allowing users to input assigned stock, strike, premium collected on prior puts, and current call sold
- Implement premium-adjusted cost basis calculator that nets prior put premium against stock purchase price
- Create dashboard showing true annualized ROI per position (premium + dividends / adjusted cost basis)
- Add ex-dividend date tracking with early assignment risk warning alerts for ITM calls
- Implement basic position list persistence with PostgreSQL and add 3 test positions to validate calculation accuracy
Differentiation
Why This Might Fail
Self-rebuttal — the most important trust signal
- 1Established options analytics platforms like OptionStrat, OptionAlpha, or tastytrade may add similar premium-adjusted tracking features, undercutting differentiation
- 2Options data API costs at $500-2000/month could make the product unprofitable below $50/month pricing, pricing out the target retail audience
- 3Retail options traders are notoriously cheap and may treat this as a nice-to-have spreadsheet replacement rather than a must-have tool, leading to low conversion rates
Evidence Summary
How AI synthesized this insight — no verbatim quotes
Approximately 5 commenters discussed the gap between perceived and actual covered call returns, with specific warnings about tracking premium-adjusted cost basis rather than raw stock price. Multiple users highlighted the difficulty of identifying good CC setups, with one noting IV exceeding HV by 2x as a screening criterion. At least 3 commenters flagged liquidity issues with specific tickers, noting wide spreads make rolling expensive. Several users also discussed the lack of exit planning for deteriorating positions, with direct questions about whether to hold or exit losing trades.
Action Plan
Validate this opportunity before writing code
Recommended Next Step
Build
Strong demand signals detected. Real pain, real willingness to pay — start building an MVP.
Landing Page Copy Kit
Ready-to-paste copy based on real Reddit community language — no editing required
Headline
Covered Call Screener & Cost-Basis Tracker
Sub-headline
A SaaS tool that screens tickers for optimal covered-call setups by combining IV-to-HV ratio, dividend yield, bid-ask spread liquidity, and support-level analysis into a single score. It also tracks true premium-adjusted cost basis across rolls and assignments, showing real annualized ROI rather than the inflated numbers traders see when ignoring prior premium.
Who It's For
For Retail options traders running wheel strategies and covered calls on dividend-paying stocks and ETFs, managing $50K-$500K portfolios
Feature List
✓ CC opportunity screener scoring IV/HV mismatch + dividend yield + liquidity ✓ Premium-adjusted cost basis tracking across rolls and assignments ✓ Annualized ROI dashboard showing true total return vs dividends + premium ✓ Ex-dividend early assignment warning alerts ✓ Exit-plan builder with support-level break alerts
Where to Validate
Share your landing page in r/r/options — that's exactly where these pain points were discovered.
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