Five Rules for Selling Earnings Premium

Selling premium into earnings is a job with a short fuse. These five rules keep the crush on your side more often than not.

1. Require elevated IV rank

If IV rank is middling, the crush has less room to run. Prefer names the scanner tags hazard or toxic — high IV rank plus a history of post-print collapse.

2. Compare expected vs. realized move

The ATM straddle tells you what the market is pricing. Compare that to the median absolute move over the last eight reports. When expected >> realized, sellers have cushion. When they converge, walk away.

3. Prefer defined risk

Naked short options into binary events are how accounts die. Iron condors, credit spreads, and butterflies cap the left tail. Size as if the max loss can hit.

4. Respect the countdown

Liquidity and spreads worsen into the print. Enter early enough to get filled, but not so early that theta and IV expansion eat you alive before the event.

5. Rehearse the exit ladder

Know your take-profit and stop before the report. Paper-trade the whole sequence on Stock Picks until the exits feel automatic — then size smaller than you think you need.

Checklist before you click sell

• IV rank and hazard tag checked
• Expected move vs. history noted
• Defined-risk structure chosen
• Max loss sized to a fixed % of account
• Exit plan written down
• Paper rehearsal logged

Nothing here is financial advice. treat live markets with the respect they deserve.