Strategy Comparison Engine
Pick a ticker and a date range. We backtest each selected strategy on the same data and show side-by-side: ending equity, CAGR, Sharpe, max drawdown, win rate, plus overlaid equity curves.
How the Strategy Comparison works
Pick two or three strategies on the same underlying — buy-and-hold, covered calls, cash-secured puts, the wheel, or any custom mix — and see expected yield, max drawdown, capital-efficiency, assignment frequency, and tax treatment side by side. Useful when deciding which income approach fits your account, risk tolerance, and outlook.
Methodology
Each strategy is evaluated against the same historical price series for the chosen ticker. Yields use realised cycle-by-cycle premium income; drawdowns are mark-to-market low points; capital-efficiency is annualised return divided by peak capital deployed. Buy-and-hold is the always-included baseline so income strategies are compared against the opportunity cost of just holding the underlying.
Worked example
On SPY over the last 5 years, buy-and-hold typically beats a 30-delta covered-call campaign on absolute return but loses on drawdown and Sharpe ratio. The wheel sits between them — slightly lower max drawdown than CC alone, slightly higher cumulative income, more assignment events.
When buy-and-hold wins
In strong, low-IV uptrends, the called-away upside on covered calls leaves money on the table. The comparison page surfaces this honestly rather than just showing income-strategy wins.
Frequently asked questions
Are commissions and taxes included?
Not yet. Commissions on a per-contract basis are usually trivial at modern brokers but tax treatment of premium income (short-term) versus underlying gains (long-term) can shift the ranking meaningfully — model that separately for your jurisdiction.
Can I compare two tickers head-to-head?
Not directly — comparisons are within-ticker. To compare tickers, run each one independently and compare the headline metrics.
Does this account for assignment-driven capital churn?
Yes. When a CSP is assigned, the engine tracks the stock position and the wheel strategy automatically rotates to covered calls until called away.