Strategy · Education

Weekly Options Exit Strategy

By the Weekly Options Team · Reviewed August 2026

A solid weekly options exit strategy is always important if you want to make the most of winning trades and limit the damage from losing ones. Any trading strategy must be tailored to your profile as a trader, and the conditions of the market and your position.

TAILORING YOUR WEEKLY OPTIONS EXIT STRATEGY

The first thing to do in planning your exit strategy is to ask yourself the following questions:

Can you watch the market throughout the day?

What is your risk tolerance?

How much capital do you have available?

How much time does your position have to expiration?

What is the general market outlook for the day, positive or negative?

How definite is the strength (for call options) or weakness (for puts) of the stock at the time of entering the trade?

PLANNING AHEAD IS VITAL

Plan your exit before you buy if possible. The reason you plan your exit strategy before you enter a trade is because once you are in a trade, your emotions may cloud your judgment.

If you entered an option based on a specific profit target or profit range for the options position, and you hit that target, then it makes perfect sense to cash out and exit, sticking to the plan you already laid out.

“GREED IS THE UNDOING OF A GREAT PROFIT”

MODIFYING YOUR WEEKLY OPTIONS EXIT STRATEGY

Another strategy you can employ if the underlying trend is strong and may continue, is taking partial profits and/or modifying your position, which could allow you to improve the overall reward-to-risk trade-off. More specifically, modifications are often done to lock in profit and/or mitigate risk, while retaining the opportunity for more gains.

Once an option doubles in value, you can sell half of your original position and lock in a break-even trade at worst.

USING STOPS

Another aspect of weekly options exit strategy is the use of stops. These are a protective mechanism worth considering when your trade has gained value by 30-50%. It can be wise to look into either protecting your profits or at least ensuring that you will not lose money on the trade.

Either place a hard stop at your entry price or set a trailing stop. This is more of an art than a science. Each stock and each trade is different so it takes time to learn how to properly set stops.

EXIT SIGNALS

If you have time to watch the market, and have the patience to handle the volatility, you only exit when the stock gives you a technical signal to exit. This could be a pullback in prices, stalling at support or resistance, or a number of other signals including overall market pull-back or surge, some good or bad news and the opinions of analysts.

WEEKLY OPTIONS EXIT STRATEGY - A NOTE TO OUR MEMBERS

As to the exit price, it is suggested, never obligatory, and is entirely up to the member. Ian would personally prefer not to suggest anything, but many members have asked for this. Every trader has a different risk tolerance: some will get out at 20%, others 50%, while others will ride the trade to the peak.

Many of the alerted weekly trades move very quickly after the market opens. If you enter then and the options price climbs, a profit can sometimes come in a very short time, 20 minutes to 2 hours.

One approach some active traders use is to sell quickly for a profit, then look to re-enter after the price pulls back, or enter again at a higher strike price.

If these strategies are not possible, take your profit and move on to the next trade.

WEEKLY OPTIONS EXIT STRATEGY FOR LOSING TRADES

Another important exit strategy that needs to be considered is at what point will you get out of the trade if things don't go in your favor?

Stock options are extremely volatile. It's not uncommon to see your trade fluctuate in value by 10-20%, or much more in this volatile market, during the trading day.

Once you place your trade, place a stop-loss to close out your trade if it drops in value by a certain percentage. As noted in our research this is approximately 60%, and you may wish to use less, depending on your risk tolerance. Ian sets the guideline at that level because the market can fluctuate greatly, up high one day and down low the next.

A 60% loss of the capital in a trade is enough to say that either the trade was bad or the timing was wrong. Cut the loss and move on.

Losses are inevitable; it is vital to accept them quickly and get on with the next trade. So long as the percentages are in your favor, your strategy is working for you.