IBIT Options Ideas: Selling 15-Delta Puts (Education)

A simple, rules-based way some investors try to earn income from bitcoin ETF options. This page explains the idea. It is not a recommendation.

Education, not financial advice. Options are risky and are not suitable for everyone. Bitcoin can drop fast, and selling puts means you can be forced to buy shares at a price far above where they trade. Read the OCC’s “Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options” before trading options.

The example rules

Underlying

IBIT (iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF)

What you sell

A put about 15 delta, roughly 40–50 days to expiration

Two versions

Cash-secured put: keep enough cash to buy 100 shares per contract at the strike. Put credit spread: also buy a lower-strike put, so the most you can lose is capped at the width of the spread minus the credit.

Take profit

Buy it back when you have made 50% of the credit you collected

Size

Small. One bad month in bitcoin can erase many months of premium.

What our backtest showed (model only)

We modeled these rules on IBIT-style bitcoin history. The model averaged about $229 a month per $10,000 set aside. That is a model result, not real trades. It uses estimated option prices, not actual fills, and past results do not predict future results.

The main risks, in plain words

A sharp bitcoin drop can turn a small, steady income into a large loss in days.
With a cash-secured put you may end up owning IBIT at the strike price, well above the market.
Spreads cap the loss but also mean a full loss of the spread width is possible.
Bid-ask spreads and early assignment can cost more than you expect.

FAQ

What is a 15-delta put?

A put option whose delta is about 0.15. Very roughly, the market is pricing about a 15% chance it finishes in the money at expiration. It sits well below the current price.

What does 40–50 DTE mean?

Days to expiration. You sell an option that expires in about 40 to 50 days, which is the range many option sellers use to collect premium while time decay works for them.

Is $229 a month per $10,000 guaranteed?

No. It is the output of our historical model, not real trades, and it does not include every cost or every bad stretch. Real results can be much lower, and you can lose money.

More options ideas and a live IBIT strike finder are planned.

Education only, not financial advice. This site is not affiliated with any fund issuer. Coins-per-share figures come from issuer websites and can be delayed or wrong, so check the issuer’s page before you rely on a number. Crypto is very volatile and you can lose money.