Which option strategies work in a moderate uptrend?
Basing out, or a quiet upward drift
What fits a basing market or a quiet drift higher?
A basing market or a quiet upward drift pays sellers of premium. A cash-secured put, a covered call, a bull put spread or the wheel collect time value as long as price does not fall. A bull call spread is the choice when you expect a real move rather than a slow grind.
Strategies that suit this market phase
10 of the Academy's 30 strategies list this market phase. Every strategy links to its full explanation and worked example.
- Direction
- bullish / neutral
- Max profit
- C
- Max loss
- K - C
- Risk defined
- Legs
- 1
- Level
- 4
- Experience
- Advanced
- Direction
- bullish / neutral
- Max profit
- C
- Max loss
- K - C
- Risk defined
- Legs
- 1
- Level
- 2
- Experience
- Beginner
- Direction
- neutral to mildly bullish
- Max profit
- (Kc - S0) + C
- Max loss
- S0 - C
- Risk defined
- Legs
- 2
- Level
- 1
- Experience
- Beginner
- Direction
- bullish
- Max profit
- W - D
- Max loss
- D
- Risk defined
- Legs
- 2
- Level
- 3
- Experience
- Beginner
- Direction
- bullish / neutral
- Max profit
- C
- Max loss
- W - C
- Risk defined
- Legs
- 2
- Level
- 3
- Experience
- Intermediate
- Direction
- neutral with a directional tilt
- Max profit
- narrow width minus the debit, or narrow width plus the credit, at the middle strike
- Max loss
- (W_breit - W_eng) - C
- Risk defined
- Legs
- 3
- Level
- 3
- Experience
- Advanced
- Direction
- neutral to mildly bullish
- Max profit
- C
- Max loss
- Kp - C
- Risk defined
- Legs
- 3
- Level
- 4
- Experience
- Advanced
- Direction
- mildly bullish with a target at the upper strike
- Max profit
- W + C
- Max loss
- unlimited
- Risk defined
- Legs
- 2
- Level
- 4
- Experience
- Advanced
- Direction
- moderately bullish
- Max profit
- by simulation only - it depends on the residual value of the long call
- Max loss
- approximately the debit
- Risk defined
- Legs
- 2
- Level
- 3
- Experience
- Intermediate
- Direction
- neutral to bullish over the long run
- Max profit
- no single payoff - the sum of the credits plus or minus the price move
- Max loss
- full stock risk in phases 2 and 3, less every credit collected
- Risk defined
- Legs
- 1
- Level
- 2
- Experience
- Beginner
What a moderate uptrend looks like
A moderate uptrend means price has stopped falling, or is drifting slowly higher without much conviction behind it. The phase is unglamorous and that is exactly what makes it useful: it is the most common state a market is in, and the only one where "not much happens, but slightly upward" is a thesis somebody will pay you for.
What pays you here is usually time decay. A cash-secured put collects premium and commits you to buying the stock at the strike if price falls through it — the same obligation the wheel then rolls onward into a covered call. A bull put spread turns that into a defined-loss position tying up far less capital. If you want the move itself rather than the stillness, the bull call spread is the trade, and you pay for it.
The standard mistake is treating a cash-secured put as a pure income trade. The premium is payment for genuinely being willing to own the shares. If you would not want them at that price, the trade is wrong no matter how good the premium looks.
Read on
Other market phases
This material is general information about option strategies, written for a general audience. It is not investment advice, not a recommendation, and not financial analysis. Options can lose their entire value, and uncovered positions can lose more than the amount committed. Anything said about tax is general in nature and is no substitute for professional tax advice. Last reviewed: 2026-08-06.