Methodology

How the Collect52 engine scans, scores, and backtests options-income opportunities — and what the numbers you see actually mean.

What the engine scans

Each cycle, the engine evaluates cash-secured put and covered call opportunities across a broad universe of liquid, widely-traded tickers — leveraged ETFs, sector ETFs, mega cap tech, semiconductors, financials, energy, healthcare, consumer, and more. It filters for liquidity and contract quality before any scoring happens.

What the score measures

Each contract receives a score from a weighted model covering delta alignment, rate of change, trend, pullback context, expected move, and implied volatility rank. Contracts are scored across two strategy tracks: one for leveraged and high-volatility assets focused on pure premium capture, and one for individual stocks where being assigned shares is acceptable. The score is a relative ranking tool, not a guarantee — a higher score reflects a stronger historical pattern, not a predicted outcome.

What "backtested win rate" means

A backtested win rate reflects how a comparable contract would have performed if opened at similar conditions in the past. A trade is counted as a win if it would have expired worthless or been closed profitably before expiry. Backtests are run against historical price data and do not account for slippage, exact fill timing, or every real-world execution detail.

Backtested data vs. our take

Wherever you see a pick on Collect52, the backtested statistics and our own conviction note are shown as two separate things. The backtest is historical data. "Our take" is our own judgment layered on top of it. Neither is personalized investment advice — you always execute your own trades, through your own brokerage, on your own decision. See our disclaimer for more on how we describe what we do.