Fitness Score Explained: How We Rate Every Trade Setup

You find a stock with a great overall score. You're bullish. So you buy calls. But the stock barely moves and your options decay to nothing. What went wrong?

The stock might have been a great opportunity, just not for call buying. Maybe it was ideal for selling puts or running a wheel. The overall score told you the opportunity existed. The fitness score would have told you which strategy actually matched.

Overall Score vs. Fitness Score

The options opportunity score is a single number from 0 to 10 that answers a simple question: how much is happening with this stock right now? It aggregates five pillars of data: Direction, Momentum, Volatility, Value, and Activity. A high overall score means the stock has multiple factors aligning to create a trading opportunity.

But "opportunity" doesn't tell you what kind of opportunity. A stock with elevated implied volatility, strong premiums, and stable price action is an excellent premium-selling opportunity. Buying calls on it might be the worst possible choice because you're overpaying for options that are likely to lose value as IV compresses.

The fitness score solves this problem. It measures how well a stock's current profile matches one specific strategy. Same five pillars, different weights.

Think of it this way: the overall score is like knowing someone is a great athlete. The fitness score tells you whether they'd be better at basketball or swimming.

How Pillar Weights Change by Strategy

Each of the five pillars contributes differently depending on the strategy being evaluated.

For Buyer Strategies (Calls and Puts)

When you're buying options, you need the stock to move. Direction and momentum matter most. You also want to avoid overpaying, so IV rank should be moderate, not sky-high.

• Direction pillar: Heavy weight. The scoring system's directional call needs to align with your trade.
• Momentum pillar: Heavy weight. You want confirmation that the stock is already moving in your direction or showing acceleration.
• Volatility pillar: Moderate weight, but inverted. Lower IV rank actually helps buyers because options are cheaper.
• Value pillar: Moderate weight. You want the option pricing to be fair relative to expected movement.
• Activity pillar: Light to moderate weight. Unusual activity is a plus but not required.

For Seller Strategies (Credit Spreads, Iron Condors)

When you're selling premium, you want elevated volatility, stable prices, and time decay working in your favor.

• Volatility pillar: Heavy weight. High IV rank is the primary edge for premium sellers. You want to sell options when they're expensive.
• Direction pillar: Moderate weight. You want a clear enough picture to position your short strikes wisely, but extreme directional moves are actually the enemy.
• Momentum pillar: Moderate weight, but inverted. Low momentum is good. You want the stock to sit still and let theta work.
• Value pillar: Heavy weight. Rich premiums relative to risk define good seller setups.
• Activity pillar: Light weight. Unusual activity can actually be a warning sign for sellers, since it might indicate a coming move.

For Wheel Strategy

The wheel strategy combines selling puts for income with willingness to own the stock if assigned. It blends seller metrics with fundamental quality.

• Volatility pillar: Heavy weight. You need elevated premiums to make the wheel profitable.
• Direction pillar: Moderate weight. You want the stock to be at least not bearish, since you might end up owning it.
• Value pillar: Heavy weight. The stock needs to be one you'd actually want in your portfolio at the assigned price.
• Momentum pillar: Moderate weight. Stable to slightly bullish momentum is ideal.
• Activity pillar: Light weight. Not a primary factor.

For Hedging Strategies

When you're protecting a portfolio, the calculus flips. You want cheap protection, which means low IV, and you're less concerned about direction since you're insuring against a move you hope doesn't happen.

• Value pillar: Heavy weight. Cheap protection is the primary goal.
• Volatility pillar: Heavy weight, inverted. Low IV means options are cheap, which is when you want to buy insurance.
• Direction pillar: Light weight. Hedges work regardless of the current directional signal.
• Momentum pillar: Moderate weight. Increasing downside momentum makes hedging more urgent.
• Activity pillar: Moderate weight. Institutional hedging flow can confirm the need for protection.

Score Thresholds: What Numbers to Target

Fitness scores use the same 0-10 scale as the overall score, but the interpretation is strategy-specific.

7 and Above: Strong Match

A fitness score of 7+ means the stock's current profile is well-aligned with the specific strategy. Multiple pillar weights are contributing positively. These are the setups to prioritize.

For buyers, a 7+ means strong direction, building momentum, and reasonably priced options. For sellers, it means elevated IV, stable price action, and rich premiums. For the wheel, it means all of the above plus a stock you'd want to own.

5 to 7: Moderate Match

The setup is workable but has at least one pillar that's not ideal. Maybe the direction is right but IV is a bit low for sellers. Or maybe the momentum is there but the premiums don't fully compensate for the risk.

You can trade moderate-fitness setups, but consider smaller position sizes and tighter risk management. The edge is thinner, so the execution needs to be sharper.

Below 5: Poor Match

A fitness score under 5 means the strategy doesn't fit the stock's current profile. Don't force it. A low buyer fitness score on a high-overall-score stock just means it's a better opportunity for a different strategy. Check the other fitness scores before moving on.

This is where the fitness score saves you from bad trades. That high-scoring stock you wanted to buy calls on? If its buyer fitness is 4.5 but its seller fitness is 8.2, the data is telling you something. Listen.

Real Examples

Here's how fitness scores play out in practice:

Example 1: High Overall, Low Buyer Fitness A stock scores 8.5 overall. Its IV rank is at the 80th percentile, premiums are rich, and price has been range-bound for two weeks. The buyer fitness score is 5.1 (poor direction and momentum for buying), but the seller fitness score is 8.8. This is a premium-selling opportunity, not a directional play.

Example 2: Moderate Overall, High Buyer Fitness A stock scores 6.5 overall. Its IV rank is low (options are cheap), but momentum is accelerating and the direction signal just flipped bullish. Unusual activity confirms institutional interest. Buyer fitness: 7.4. Seller fitness: 4.2. The opportunity isn't huge, but for call buyers specifically, the setup is strong. Cheap options plus building momentum is exactly what buyers want.

Example 3: High Fitness Across Multiple Strategies A stock scores 8.0 overall with buyer fitness of 7.5 and seller fitness of 7.8. This happens when a stock has both strong directional signals and elevated volatility. Both strategies can work, so you pick based on your own risk preference and portfolio needs.

Using Fitness Scores in the Screener

The screener lets you filter and sort by fitness score for specific strategies. Instead of scanning all 5,000+ stocks and trying to figure out which strategy to apply, you can:

1. Select your preferred strategy (buyer, seller, wheel, etc.)
2. Sort by fitness score for that strategy
3. Focus on the top results where the stock's profile best matches your approach

This eliminates the mismatch problem entirely. You never end up buying calls on a stock that's built for premium selling, or selling puts on a stock that's about to make a directional move.

The fitness scores on the screener are the same ones used to generate premium trade ideas, so what you see in the screener is consistent with the ideas the system produces.

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Start Using This

Fitness scores tell you which strategy actually matches the opportunity. Stop forcing trades that don't fit. Use the screener to find setups where the stock's profile and your strategy align.

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• See the scoring methodology
• Explore the screener
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• Learn about the overall score