1. Can they be used together? Yes.
Think of your portfolio like a machine. The Wheel is the massive, heavy main engine that drives long-term wealth. The Condor is a smaller, nimble secondary motor that generates quick cash.
The Core: The Wheel (70-80% of money)
You use the majority of your cash to run the Wheel on extremely safe, slightly boring stocks (like Apple, Microsoft, or ETFs). This is your foundation. You are happy to own these long-term.
The Satellite: Condors (20-30% of money)
You use your leftover cash to deploy Iron Condors on highly volatile, expensive stocks where you don't want to own 100 shares. Because Condors require very little cash, you can generate high returns without risking the farm.
Interactive Portfolio Mixer
Move the slider to see how your personality dictates your strategy mix.
The Foundation Builder
Mostly running the Wheel to slowly accumulate shares of great companies. You only use Condors occasionally for a bit of extra side income.
2. The "Relatives" of these Strategies
If you understand the Wheel and the Condor, you already understand 90% of these two related strategies. They are the logical next steps for a trader.
The Credit Spread
"Half of an Iron Condor"
An Iron Condor assumes a stock stays completely flat (two guardrails). But what if you are confident a stock is going UP? You can build just the bottom guardrail. This is called a Bull Put Spread.
- 1. Stock is at $100. You think it goes up.
- 2. You build a floor at $90 (Sell Put).
- 3. You buy insurance at $85 (Buy Put).
- 4. You ignore the ceiling entirely! As long as the stock stays above $90, you win.
Poor Man's Covered Call
"The Discount Wheel"
The biggest flaw of the Wheel is that buying 100 shares of a stock like Apple costs $17,000. What if you don't have that much cash? You use the PMCC (also called a Diagonal Spread).
- Instead of buying a house ($17,000 to buy 100 shares), you sign a 1-year lease to rent the house ($3,000 to buy a 1-year Call option deep in the money).
- You then sub-let the rooms weekly (Selling short-term Calls) just like Phase 2 of the Wheel, but using 80% less capital.