Trading preferences are the defaults QuantWheel uses when you open the screener. Rather than setting filters from scratch every time, you configure your preferences once — target yearly yield, risk tolerance, maximum collateral per trade, primary strategy — and every new screen starts with those values pre-populated. You can still adjust filters per screen; preferences just establish the starting point.
Before you start
Required:
- A QuantWheel account (Sandbox or paid). Preferences work on all tiers.
Time to complete: 5 minutes
Steps
1. Open Preferences
Click the gear icon in the top bar to open Settings, then click Preferences in the Settings sidebar.
📸 SCREENSHOT: configure-trading-preferences-step-1.png
2. Set your Target Yearly Yield
Target Yearly Yield is the annualized return you're aiming for across the wheel strategy. It's used to seed the Yield % filter's minimum on the screener.
Typical ranges:
- Conservative: 15–25% annualized. Tight filters, lower-premium candidates, fewer assignments.
- Moderate: 25–40% annualized. Standard wheel territory; balanced yield vs. risk.
- Aggressive: 40–60%+. Looser filters, higher-premium candidates, more frequent assignments.
Target Yearly Yield is a goal, not a guarantee. Actual returns depend on market conditions, your stock selection, and how well you execute rolls.
3. Set your Risk Profile
A 1–5 slider where 1 is most conservative and 5 is most aggressive. This calibrates the default assignment-risk filter used by the screener when you reset to your user defaults.
- 1 — prioritizes low delta, lower yield, tight fundamentals
- 3 — standard wheel balance
- 5 — prioritizes yield over safety; accepts higher delta
Changing your Risk Profile changes which opportunities are shown by default, because it adjusts the maximum assignment risk applied to new screens and user-default resets.
📸 SCREENSHOT: configure-trading-preferences-step-2.png
4. Set your Max Collateral Per Trade
Max Collateral Per Trade is the most cash you're willing to commit to any single cash-secured put or multi-leg position.
The screener uses this to filter out contracts that would require more collateral than you've set — so a $50K-cap setting hides $100 CSPs that would need $10K and $200 CSPs that would need $20K+. This keeps the screener's results actionable.
Pick a value that matches your account size and diversification tolerance. A common rule: no single position should tie up more than 10–20% of your available cash.
5. Set your Primary Strategy
Primary Strategy picks which strategy the screener defaults to when you open Find Deals. Options typically include:
- Cash Secured Put — the default for most wheel traders (stage 1 of the cycle)
- Covered Calls — useful if you're focused on the covered-call side
- Long Put or Long Call — if you run directional positions alongside the wheel
You can always switch strategies per screen; this just sets the default.
📸 SCREENSHOT: configure-trading-preferences-step-3.png
6. Save
Click Save at the bottom. Preferences apply immediately — the next time you open Find Deals, the screener loads with your new defaults.
📸 SCREENSHOT: configure-trading-preferences-step-4.png
7. Optional: tune suggestion settings
If you're on PRO, use Suggestion Settings on the Preferences page to adjust when QuantWheel surfaces position suggestions: covered-call ideas, roll candidates, expiration reminders, split alerts, and early-close suggestions. These settings control the Action Center suggestions and position alerts; they don't change saved Find Deals filters.
How preferences flow into the product
Into the screener
When you open Find Deals, the Yield %, Delta, and other filters are pre-populated using your preferences. Filter defaults aren't locked — you can adjust them per screen — but they save setup time.
Into suggestion settings
Suggestion Settings control when QuantWheel highlights position-level actions such as rolling, selling covered calls, closing early, or watching an expiration. These are separate from Find Deals filters and can be tuned without changing your saved screens.
Common issues
Changing preferences doesn't seem to affect my saved filters.
Saved filters (from Your Searches in Find Deals) remember the exact filter values at save time, not a reference to preferences. Changing preferences updates the defaults for new screens; it doesn't retroactively update saved filters.
Target Yearly Yield seems optimistic.
It's a target, not a promise. Set it based on what you're actively aiming for, not what you've historically achieved. Too-ambitious yields set unrealistic expectations; too-conservative yields filter out good candidates that would have made sense to consider.
Can I have different preferences for different strategies?
Not directly — preferences are account-wide. The workaround is to save filter combinations for each strategy (see How to save and reuse filter combinations) and load whichever applies when you're screening.
Why is Risk Profile a slider rather than a set of thresholds?
A single slider is easier to calibrate and easier to explain than a dozen separate threshold fields. It abstracts away the internal weights while letting you shift the overall aggressiveness.
Related
- How to use the Find Deals screener
- How to read the opportunity Rating
- How to update your account profile
Risk disclaimer: Options trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. Past performance does not guarantee future results. This content is for educational purposes only and is not investment advice.