196: Building a Winning Options Trading Portfolio

📊 Trade These SPX Setups With Us

The strategies discussed in this episode are part of the Alpha Crunching Trade Setups, where we use backtesting and market data to build a portfolio of mechanical SPX strategies.

Members get access to:

• Weekly rules-based SPX Trade Setups
• Live trade alerts in the Alpha Crunching Discord
• SPX trading tools and market statistics
• Strategy discussion and live trading chat
• Automation options for select strategies

The goal is simple: data-driven SPX trading with repeatable rules and less time watching charts.

👉 Learn more and join at AlphaCrunching.com

What happens when you stop looking for the “best” SPX trading strategy and start thinking in terms of a portfolio of strategies?

In Episode 196, I break down four mechanical SPX strategies based purely on the math — without focusing on the actual strategy or setup.

We compare:

• Trade frequency
• Win rate
• Average winner
• Average loser
• Expectancy
• Risk/reward

The differences are significant. One strategy wins just 35% of the time, while others win more than 70%. But higher win rates come with their own trade-offs, including larger average losses.

The interesting part comes when we combine all four.

Instead of relying on one strategy that might go weeks without a trade or experience a losing streak, the different mathematical profiles can complement each other and produce a much smoother overall P&L curve.

The goal isn't necessarily to find the highest win rate or the perfect strategy. It's to build a collection of positive-expectancy trades that can work together over time.

Would you trade a strategy with only a 35% win rate if it improved the overall portfolio?