Keep the upside. Cap the downside.
Every trading morning, Stillwater finds the few stocks worth owning and prices the options collar that protects each one: a put underneath, a call on top, the cost worked out before you trade.
225 real collars returned 21% a year on the capital used; the same trader’s unhedged stock trades returned −12% a year.
- Stock
- +113%
- Collar
- +72%
- Stock
- +72%
- Collar
- +71%
- Stock
- +65%
- Collar
- +41%
- Stock
- −32%
- Collar
- −1.3%
- Stock
- −31%
- Collar
- −0.6%
- Stock
- −35%
- Collar
- −7.8%
Losses stay small. Gains run.
Each dot is one collar, closed between 2025 and 2026. Most collars end a little below zero, where the put catches the fall. The winners sit far to the right: the average win was +13% against an average loss of −5.8%.
225 closed collars. Losses cluster just below zero; gains run much further.
Your work is done before the bell.
Stillwater does the screening and the option math every morning, so the only thing left is the decision.
- 7:00 CTThe scan runsBefore the open, Stillwater applies the same screen to thousands of US-listed stocks, every morning, without mood or exception.
- 7:30 CTThe shortlist landsA dozen names at most, each with its research in view: the analyst support behind it, the pre-market move and the next earnings date.
- 7:45 CTYou plan the collarFor each name, the call to sell and the put to buy, with the net cost, floor and cap worked out from the option chain.
- 8:30 CTThe market opensPrices refresh with the live chain. Place the trade in your own brokerage account, or pass. The tracker reminds you before a put expires.
The strategy that saved Mark Cuban's fortune
In 1999, Cuban sold broadcast.com for stock in the acquiring internet company, stock he was restricted from selling. He bought puts to set a floor and paid for them by selling calls. When that stock fell more than 90% in the dot-com crash, his fortune held. Stillwater prices that same trade for the stocks you buy, every morning.
Read the options collar guide, with the Cuban tradeOne plan. $99 a month.
The morning shortlist, a priced collar for every name, the open-collar tracker and earnings collars. We’re letting people in from the waitlist; once you’re in, it’s free for 30 days.