Selling options for income only works if you actually keep score. Premiums collected, trades still open, what each position is really earning, and how you stack up against just buying the index, all add up fast, and a shoebox of screenshots will not cut it. The Denaras Analytics tab keeps the whole scoreboard for you, whether you are paper trading or tracking real money.
Think of Analytics as the scoreboard at a game. Without one, you are just guessing who is winning. It shows your real score, not the flattering version you remember, and it works the same whether the money is practice or real.
Paper or real, your call
You do not have to risk a cent to start. Run simulated (paper) trades and Analytics tracks them exactly as if they were live. When you are ready for real money, head to the Import tab and upload a CSV from your broker, and from then on Analytics tracks your actual trades. The headline chart even plots both lines at once, your real results against your paper baseline, so you can see the difference at a glance.
The risk numbers, up front
Income is only half the story. Analytics puts your live exposure right beside your earnings, so you never celebrate a premium while ignoring what could still happen. Four tiles matter most:
- Credit at risk — the premium still tied up in open positions, not yet locked in.
- Max obligation — the cash you would need if every short put were assigned at once.
- Active positions and Avg DTE remaining — how many trades are live and how much time they have left.
Every open position, in one table
Below the tiles, the Open positions table lists every live trade: symbol, type, strike, expiration, premium collected, current net, whether it sits in-the-money or out, cost to close, and where it came from. You can close or edit any row inline, or add a new trade by hand.
How hard your capital is working
Scroll into Analytics and the tool stops being a ledger and starts being a coach. A row of headline stats, Success rate, Net captured, and Payoff ratio, tells you how often you win and whether your winners outweigh your losers. Then a Capital efficiency panel breaks down how hard each trade’s money and time are working: your average hold length, average credit per trade, average return on the capital you set aside, and your real assignment rate. This is where you learn whether your process is actually efficient, not just profitable.
Are you beating the index?
The honest question every income trader avoids: would you have done better just buying the market? Analytics answers it directly. Log your deposits once on the Deposits tab, and Denaras compares your realized results against SPY over the same period and the same capital. The You vs. SPY chart plots both curves side by side, and a Return on deployed collateral figure shows the annualized return on the cash your short options actually tied up.
Where the money actually comes from
Further down, Analytics slices your history so patterns jump out. A Monthly P&L chart shows each month’s net, green for a gain, red for a loss, with your best and worst months called out. A Capital at work bar shows how much of your premium is realized versus still at risk. And a set of breakdowns, Strategy mix, Outcomes (expired, bought back, rolled, assigned), Income by industry, premium by ticker, and Profit by ticker, show exactly which strategies, sectors, and stocks are carrying your results and which are quietly dragging.
A premium is not yours to celebrate until the trade is closed or expired. Analytics separates realized income from what is still open and at risk, so you never spend money that is still on the table.
Bring your real trades in one drop
You do not have to log a thing by hand. The Import tab takes a CSV export from Robinhood, Fidelity, Schwab, Wealthsimple, Interactive Brokers, or Questrade. Denaras fingerprints the header row, matches your broker automatically, and reads the fields in any column order, confirming anything unusual in a one-step mapper. Your file is parsed in your browser, so nothing is uploaded to a server unless you confirm the import, and every row is reconciled and deduped before it lands in your journal.
Why tracking changes behavior
When you can see your real return on capital, your win rate, and how you compare to just buying SPY, you stop chasing the biggest premium and start valuing consistency. The number that matters is not your best month, it is whether the process compounds quietly over many months. A clear scoreboard nudges you toward the boring habits that actually build wealth.
Watch return on capital and your SPY comparison, not raw premium. A big premium on a huge amount of tied-up cash, or a year of income that still lagged the index, is the kind of truth only a real scoreboard will tell you.
- The Denaras Analytics tab tracks paper trades and real, imported trades side by side, with your actual and paper lines on one chart.
- It shows income, live risk, every open position, capital efficiency, and an honest comparison against SPY.
- Import a CSV from any major broker in one drop; it is parsed privately in your browser and deduped into your journal.
Paper trade with zero risk, or import your real trades in one drop.
This article is educational and is not investment advice. Options involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Examples and premiums shown are illustrative and change with the market. Practice with paper trading before committing real money.