Guide

How to track wheel trades after assignment

After a put is assigned, the premium that started the trade isn't attached to anything anymore. The shares show up at the strike, the put disappears, and the record is yours to keep from there.

Updated 13 Oct 2026

What assignment does to the record

Before assignment, one row on the broker's screen covers it: the put, the credit, the expiration. After assignment that row is gone. You have 100 shares at the strike, a cash debit, and a put that now only exists in the order history. The broker treats it as a stock purchase, because that is what it was.

Then you sell a call against the shares. That is a new row with its own premium and expiration. Roll it and there are two more orders. A few weeks in, one wheel cycle is five or six orders in three places, and the number you actually want, what these 100 shares cost after everything collected on them, is not on any screen.

What to record, per lot

A lot is 100 shares that came from one assignment on one date. Everything in the wheel hangs off a lot, so keep the record per lot, not per ticker. Two assignments of the same stock on different dates are two lots with two bases, even if the strikes match.

Two bases

There are two honest answers to "what is my basis", and they answer different questions.

Tax basis

In general, the premium from an assigned put reduces the basis of the shares you receive, and the premium from an assigned call is added to the proceeds when the shares leave. A call that expires or is bought back is taxed on its own when it closes and does not touch the stock's basis. Brokers differ in what they display after assignment. Some adjust the basis for the put premium, some show the bare strike. The reference is IRS Publication 550, and your CPA has the final word.

Effective basis

The number a wheeler actually uses: the strike you were assigned at, minus every net premium collected on that lot since, including the put that started it. It tells you where a call can be sold without locking in a loss on the shares, and whether the lot is still worth wheeling. It is a planning figure. It does not go on a tax return.

Keep both. A lot can be above its effective basis and below its tax basis at the same time.

Where the record goes wrong

• Booking a roll's new credit without the buy-back. The new sale looks like money in. The net of the two legs is what you earned, and after a stock runs it is often negative.
• Losing the put. It closed before the shares existed, so it is the premium most often forgotten.
• Averaging two lots into one line. The result is a basis that is wrong for both and wrong for the next call.
• Commissions on some legs and not others. Either every leg carries its commission or none does. A few cents per share is enough to flip a close call.

A spreadsheet layout that works

One sheet per account. One row per leg, not per position. Columns: date, ticker, lot id, leg type (put sold, assigned, call sold, call bought back, call assigned, shares sold), strike, expiration, contracts, premium per share, commission, net cash. The lot id ties each call to the shares it covers. A running sum of net cash per lot id, divided by the share count, is the effective basis per share. The assignment date and strike per lot id is the tax basis before your CPA's adjustments.

I kept one like this for a long time. It works as long as you keep it every day, and the day you skip is usually the day a roll gets booked wrong.