Every week on Theta Profits, I interview retail options traders about their strategies, mindsets, and results. So it’s only fair that I occasionally turn the camera on myself and share my own options trading results.

In this article, I summarize my 2025 performance and the strategies that drove most of my returns.

Learn about my 2025 trading results in this video

Who I am

I am John Einar Sandvand, the founder and editor of Theta Profits, and I’ve been trading options since 2018. I come from a background in journalism, which shapes how I approach trading: focusing on transparency, risk management, and asking the right questions rather than chasing quick wins.

Like most traders, I’ve made my share of mistakes, including painful drawdowns that forced me to improve my discipline and position sizing. Today, my focus is on options selling, consistency, and finding strategies I can trade repeatedly without stress.

Through weekly interviews with retail options traders from around the world, Theta Profits is my way of learning in public and helping others figure out what fits their own trading style, risk tolerance, and lifestyle.

My overall options trading results for 2025

In 2025, my options trading account finished up 39.26%.

I’m satisfied with that result, especially because I consider myself a risk-averse trader. My goal has never been to maximize returns at all costs, but to find strategies that are repeatable, scalable, and compatible with my lifestyle.

I traded more than 20 different strategies during the year. In practice, however, almost all of my profits came from just four. This is a pattern I’ve seen repeatedly in my own trading: broad experimentation, followed by a much narrower set of strategies that actually fit me.

• Check also out: 10 options strategies to consider for 2026

A quick look back: mistakes, drawdowns, and recovery

I started trading options in 2018. The first couple of years were mostly flat, with plenty of mistakes along the way, including losses from following alert services and trading too many strategies at once.

The biggest turning point came in 2020. During the COVID crash, I was overexposed, traded too large, and failed to cut losses. I lost more than half my account in a matter of weeks and finished that year down 23.77%.

That experience forced a fundamental change in how I approach risk management, position sizing, and discipline. Since then, my account has grown steadily year by year, culminating in the 2025 result.

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The four options strategies that generated most of my profits

1. 0DTE break-even iron condors on SPX

This has been my core strategy for several years and was by far the largest contributor to my profits in 2025.

• Number of trades: 2,182
• Win rate: 42.8%
• Average days in the trade: Same day (0DTE)
• Average net profit per trade: ~0.33% of capital risked per day
• Premium Capture Rate: 5.4%

The strategy focuses on selling multiple iron condors throughout the trading day with very tight stop losses. If one side is stopped out, the trade typically ends close to break-even. The edge comes from consistency and repetition rather than large individual wins.

This strategy contributed well over half of my total profits for the year.

• More about this way of trading:
• Tammy Chambless: Multiple Entries Iron Condors (MEIC)
• David Berndsen: 0DTE Breakeven Iron Condors

2. In-the-money covered calls

In-the-money covered calls are one of my core longer-duration strategies and a major contributor to my results.

• Number of trades: 40
• Win rate: 97.8%. 39 winners, 1 loser
• Average days in the trade: 40 days
• Average net profit per trade: 3.4%

The strategy involves buying 100 shares of a stock with relatively high implied volatility and selling an in-the-money call, typically a couple of weeks out. The goal is to collect meaningful extrinsic value while maintaining downside protection.

In 2025, this strategy contributed roughly 25–30% of my total profits and has shown extremely high consistency over multiple years.

• More about this strategy:
• Brian Terry: In the Money Covered Calls

3. The wheel strategy

I traded the wheel strategy less frequently in 2025, but it still played a meaningful role in my overall performance.

• Number of trades: 12
• Win rate: 91.75. 11 winners, 1 loser
• Average days in the trade: 20 days
• Average net profit per trade: 3.1%

Some of these trades were on more volatile underlyings than typically recommended for the wheel. While it required patience and occasional rolling, the strategy contributed approximately 12–13% of my total profits for the year.

• More about this strategy:
• Paul Gundersen: The Wheel

4. Weekly “Time Flies” income trades

This was a newer strategy for me in 2025, discovered through one of the Theta Profits interviews.

• Number of trades: 33
• Win rate: 81.8%
• Average days in the trade: 6.1 days
• Average net profit per trade: 3.48%

I traded this strategy with a relatively small size while learning it. As a result, it contributed less than 10% of my total profits, but the performance was strong enough that I plan to allocate more capital to it in 2026.

• More about this way of trading:
• Simon Black: Time Flies
• Steve Ganz: Flyagonal

Key lessons from my 2025 options trading

A few themes stand out clearly from the year:

• Most profits come from very few strategies.
• Risk management matters more than strategy selection.
• High win rates are meaningless without proper position sizing.
• Strategies must fit your personality, time availability, and risk tolerance.

Just because a strategy works for one trader does not mean it will work for another. That is one of the main reasons Theta Profits focuses on interviews rather than trade alerts.

Looking ahead to 2026

In 2026, my trading will likely change somewhat due to time zone constraints while having a winter base in Da Nang, Vietnam. I plan to experiment more with automation, while continuing to trade in-the-money covered calls, the wheel, and weekly income strategies. It is also my ambition to add a couple of new strategies that I trade consistently.

As always, the goal is not perfection, but steady, repeatable execution.