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Roll calculator

Rolling means buying back the option you sold and selling another with a later expiry, usually at a better strike. It is often the right move and often just a way of delaying a loss. Enter both legs to see which this one is.

How the numbers are worked out

• Net for the roll = new premium − cost to buy back, times 100 × contracts, less fees on both legs. Positive is a credit (you are paid to roll), negative a debit.
• Total premium kept = what you first received, less the buy-back, plus the new premium, less all fees.
• New breakeven: for a put, the new strike less all premium kept per share. For a covered call it is shown as the effective price you sell at if called: new strike plus all premium kept.
• Return on the roll = the net credit divided by the cash tied up (strike × shares for a put, share value for a call), over the extra days, annualised.
• Time value bought back = buy-back cost less the option’s intrinsic value. The intrinsic part you would owe on assignment anyway; the time value is what rolling early actually costs you.

Before you roll

• Ask whether you would sell the new option if you had no position. If not, a roll is just a way to avoid taking the loss.
• Rolling for a debit pays money to stay in a losing trade. It can be right, but only for a clearly better strike.
• Rolling repeatedly into later months ties up the cash for longer; check the annualised figure, not just the credit.
• Being assigned on a put is not a failure on the wheel — it is the next step, if you were happy to own the stock.

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