Join The Core Lab

The Core Lab

Watch real trades get built, managed and closed.

The Core Lab is where I run the SMART Option Selling System™ in the open. Every trade goes up with my reasoning, and I follow it to the exit, win or lose, so you can bring the same thinking to your own account.

Join as a founding member Join The Core Lab

Founding rate $69 USD a month · Book bundle included · Cancel anytime

$99 USD a month · Book bundle included · Cancel anytime

Education, not trade alerts.

AJ Rostayee, founder of Income Options Lab and author of The Triple Income (Wheel) Strategy

A real exit, posted in #aj-trades

Closed trade · #aj-trades

A normal week inside the Lab

Monday Market Outlook
Closed trade · #aj-trades
Channel list
Friday Review
Trade history · #aj-trades
AJ's Trade Tracker
Your IOL Trade Journal
How #aj-trades works
#start-here

Why the Lab exists

Knowing the rules was never my problem.

Most of us were taught one way to get ahead: work harder. But a single paycheck is a single point of failure, and automation is making it a riskier one every year. That pressure is structural, not personal. So I went looking for a second engine.

For me, that engine was selling options.

In my first year selling options, I lost roughly half of my starting options capital.

It wasn't for lack of knowing better. I'd paid for mentorship, studied the mechanics, and put real money behind what I was learning.

I broke the rules anyway. I traded too often, sized too aggressively, and when a position went against me, I tried to win the money back instead of following the plan.

Rules don't get tested while you're reading them. They get tested on an ordinary Tuesday, when a position is underwater and there's nobody to check your thinking against.

My mistakes weren't strategy mistakes. They were decisions made alone, under pressure.

The Core Lab is built for that moment. You see how I handle my own positions when they're uncomfortable, you bring your questions into the room before you act, and you do it on the same rhythm every week.

AJ Rostayee

I've spent more than 25 years trading and investing in financial markets, across equities, futures, forex and crypto. Since the fall of 2024, selling options has been my full-time focus. SMART came out of that expensive first year, and I wrote it all down in The Triple Income (Wheel) Strategy. I didn't invent the Wheel, and not every trade works out. What you'll see is how I think each one through, on the good trades and the uncomfortable ones.

  • 25+ years trading and investing
  • Full-time options trader since 2024
  • Author of The Triple Income (Wheel) Strategy
  • Creator of the SMART Option Selling System

The SMART Option Selling System

Most people buy the insurance. Option sellers are the insurance company.

When you sell an option, someone pays you a premium up front to carry a risk they'd rather not. Most of the time nothing dramatic happens, and you keep it. But insurers pay claims too, which is why every trade has to clear five checks first.

An insurance executive smiles at a desk as envelopes of premium payments fly into an inbox tray

Each check guards a different door: junk companies, being wrong by a little, bad timing, your own emotions, and the clock.

  1. S Stock selection first

    Hard gate

    Only companies I'd be glad to own. The premium is never worth enough to make a bad company a good trade.

  2. M Margin of safety in strike selection

    Builds conviction

    The strike sits below today's price, ideally behind support, so being a little wrong costs nothing.

  3. A At the right time

    Builds conviction

    I act when a quality stock has pulled back and premiums are richer, and wait when it hasn't.

  4. R Rules before results

    Hard gate

    The profit target, exit plan and position size are set before I enter, while I'm calm.

  5. T Time working for you

    Hard gate

    Every day, the option I sold loses a little value, and that decay flows to me.

If S, R or T fails, the trade is off, however good everything else looks. M and A are matters of degree, and the more signals line up, the more conviction a trade earns.

  1. 1Sell cash-secured putCollect premium
  2. AssignedYou buy 100 shares
  3. 2Sell covered callCollect premium
  4. 3Stock above your strikeYou sell 100 shares

Three income streams

  1. 1Put premium
  2. 2Call premium
  3. 3Capital gain
The Wheel: sell a put, own the shares if assigned, sell calls against them, repeat.

The same week, every week.

There's nothing to binge and nothing to catch up on. The Core Lab runs on one steady rhythm, and you join wherever this week happens to be.

Monday, before the open

Market Outlook

What I'm watching this week and why: conditions, catalysts and risks. The goal is to understand the environment, not predict every move.

A person writing notes at a desk by a window as the sun comes up
Monday Market Outlook
From the Monday Market Outlook, week of Sep 28, 2026.

Through the week

AJ Trades

When I open a position, it goes up in #aj-trades with my reasoning, and every post after that is labeled:

  • NEW TRADE What I'm opening, and why this company, this strike and this expiry.
  • UPDATE Every adjustment, roll or assignment, as it happens.
  • CLOSED The exit and the result, win or lose.

Everything is shown on one contract, so the sizing stays your call. AJ's Trade Tracker keeps the full record, with paper trades labeled as paper, and your own IOL Trade Journal uses the same structure. Some weeks nothing clears the bar, and I'll say that too.

Trade history · #aj-trades
From #aj-trades
AJ's Trade Tracker
From AJ's Trade Tracker
Your IOL Trade Journal
Your IOL Trade Journal, with a sample wheel cycle to overwrite.

Midweek

Lab Session

A live video call on the market, timely options education and trade walk-throughs, followed by member Q&A. Recorded if you can't make it.

A host leads a video call with members in a grid of windows and a shared chart on a second screen

Friday, after the close

Market Review

A look back at what moved the market this week, and what it means for option sellers going into the next one.

A person smiling as they close their laptop at the end of the week
Friday Review
From the Friday Market Review, week ending Sep 25, 2026.

On your side, the week stays simple: follow along, log your own trades and the reasoning behind them, and bring your questions. Twenty minutes, three times a week, is plenty.

Why it's a community

Trading alone is harder than it needs to be.

It can be a lonely way to make decisions. Nobody sees the trade you nearly took, the rule you nearly broke, or the loss you keep replaying. Inside the Lab, you're working alongside people with the same goals:

  • Get answers in time. Ask before you act, so guesswork doesn't turn into gambling.
  • Keep a level head. Through a sharp drop, and when the market gets euphoric.
  • Stay accountable. The SMART rules are easier to follow when others are following them too.
  • Share it all. The wins, the losses and the lessons.

The right community can start to feel like family, and that makes it easier to stick with the process for the long run.

Built for learning the process, not copying trades.

A person planning trades at a desk with a notebook

It works best when you

  • Ask anything. No question is too basic, and every one gets an answer, from me, from other members, or with help from AI tools when that's faster. Specific questions, like "Why the 30-delta and not the 20?", get the most useful answers.
  • Watch the reasoning, not the ticker. My trades won't always suit your account, but the thinking carries over.
  • Run the checklists. The SMART Trade Acceptance Checklist turns every trade into a clear yes or no before you place it.
  • Paper trade when you're not sure. There's no prize for putting real money behind a structure you can't explain yet.
  • Set your own risk limits. Position sizing is the one piece nobody else can set for you.
  • Say so when something isn't working, in chat or by email.
A trader watching several fast-moving screens A slot machine, the opposite of a rules-based process

It isn't

  • A signal service. No stock picks or daily trade alerts.
  • A thrill ride. No 0-DTE, high leverage, or anything built on adrenaline.
  • A guarantee of monthly income. SMART is a rules-based process, shared in good faith and built to tilt the odds your way. Your results depend on you: what you know, your account size, risk tolerance, goals, and the time you can give it.
  • A shortcut. It doesn't replace your own effort and judgment.

The offer

Start with the whole book bundle. Then watch it get used.

Joining gives you The Triple Income (Wheel) Strategy and its five implementation tools on day one, so you learn the rules before you watch me apply them. Then, every week, you see those same rules used on real positions, instead of piecing a process together from scattered books, videos and posts.

Look inside the book

  • A page from the book: Two Seats at the Same Table
  • A page from the book: The Two Parts of Premium
  • A page from the book: The 45-Minute Week
  • A page from the book: The Five Failure Modes

Founding member

$99 $69 USD a month

Locked in for as long as you stay.

Limited to the first 25 members.

Includes the full book bundle, a $49 value, on day one.

Founding members get a lower rate because they're helping shape the Lab. In return, I'll ask for your honest feedback, and if you're happy, a few words I can share.

Join as a founding member

$99 USD a month

Includes the full book bundle, a $49 value, on day one.

Join The Core Lab

Cancel anytime. Your access runs to the end of the month you've paid for, and that month isn't refunded.

Secure checkout through Whop.

Education, not trade alerts.

What's included

  • The book bundle: The Triple Income (Wheel) Strategy and its five implementation tools, in #resource-library from day one
  • #aj-trades, with the reasoning behind every position I open, manage and close
  • AJ's Trade Tracker, with every entry, exit and cycle in one place
  • Monday Market Outlook and Friday Market Review, posted in #market-briefs
  • A live Lab Session every week with member Q&A, recorded in #lab-sessions if you can't make it
  • Your own copy of the IOL Trade Journal
  • Chat, Member Trade Ideas and Lessons Learned

After you join

  1. Whop emails your order confirmation. Click Access.
  2. Choose Discord, pick the account you want to use, and claim access. Your Core role is applied automatically. You'll need a free Discord account, which takes a minute to set up.
  3. Open #start-here and read the pinned post. That's it for day one.

The Core Lab is new, so you'll be one of its first members. There's no backlog to catch up on, and the questions members bring in these early months shape what the Lab Sessions cover.

Before you join, the honest part.

Options carry real risk. Selling puts means you can be assigned shares you then have to hold or sell at a loss, and some structures can lose more than the premium you collected. That's why SMART sets the exit plan and position size before any trade, not after.

Nothing inside The Core Lab is financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. I share what I'm doing, what I'm considering and what I'm learning. You decide what, if anything, fits your own account, risk tolerance, experience, goals and circumstances.

I'm not a licensed financial advisor. The Core Lab isn't a managed account, a signal service, or a promise of monthly income. Some months go well. Some don't, and you'll see both.

If you're not sure whether options suit your situation, talk to a licensed professional in your jurisdiction before you trade.

Read the full Earnings and Risk Disclosure

Questions people ask

Are these trade alerts?

No, and I'd be doing you no favors if they were. I post what I'm doing and why, on a one-contract basis. What you do with your own account is your call.

Will I see the losing trades too?

Yes. Every position I open is followed through to CLOSED in #aj-trades, whatever the result, and AJ's Trade Tracker keeps the record. The tracker covers cycles opened from September 2026 onward, and its results count real capital only.

I'm fairly new to options. Is this too advanced?

If you understand what a put and a call are, you'll be able to follow along. The book covers the mechanics from the beginning, and nobody minds beginner questions in chat. Paper trade while you find your footing.

How much time does this take?

Twenty minutes, three times a week, is plenty. The Lab Session is an hour if you attend live, and it's recorded if you can't.

Do I need the book first?

No. The Triple Income (Wheel) Strategy and its five implementation tools are in #resource-library, so your membership includes them. If you like reading before watching, start there. If you'd rather learn by following live trades, start with this week's Outlook.

I already bought the book. Is there a credit?

Yes, so you don't pay for the book twice. Your book bundle delivery email includes a one-time Whop code that takes $49 off your first month. Apply it at checkout. If you can't find it, email support@incomeoptionslab.com from the address you bought with and we'll resend it.

What's the founding-member rate?

The first 25 members pay $69 USD a month instead of $99. The rate stays locked while your membership is active. If you cancel and come back later, you'd rejoin at the standard rate. In return, I'll ask founding members for honest feedback on what's working and what isn't.

What if I miss a Lab Session?

The recording goes into #lab-sessions. If you want something covered, post the question in chat beforehand and I'll work it into the call.

How do canceling and refunds work?

Cancel anytime from your Whop account. It stops future billing, and you keep access until the end of the month you've paid for. That month isn't refunded. Full terms are in the Fulfillment Policy. If something has gone wrong with your order, email support@incomeoptionslab.com and we'll sort it out.

The next Market Outlook goes up Monday.

You've seen how the week runs. Join today and the book bundle is yours right away. Then follow along from Monday's Outlook, with every trade, its reasoning and its exit in front of you.

Join as a founding member Join The Core Lab

Founding rate $69 USD a month · Book bundle included · Cancel anytime

$99 USD a month · Book bundle included · Cancel anytime

Education, not trade alerts.

The Inner Lab

There's a second tier in the works for traders who want closer, smaller-group work. It isn't open yet, and I'd rather build it properly than rush it.

Leave your email and I'll let you know when it opens. You can leave the list whenever you like.

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Founding rate · $69/moThe Core Lab · $99/mo

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