Does the trend actually matter when you sell options premium? On Free to Trade, the team runs the numbers on 16-delta SPY strangles and 30-delta short puts at 45 DTE, managed at 21 days, and sorts the results by trend regime: quiet drift versus strong trends, measured against the 50-day moving average, both up and down. The finding is a good gut-check. These neutral strategies did best in quiet, low-volatility markets, and stayed net positive on average even through strong uptrends. The surprise is on the short put side: its strongest regime was actually strong downtrends, because premium inflates so much when the market falls that it more than compensates, on average. The real danger isn't direction, it's the sharp, violent selloff where volatility spikes before your credit has adjusted. The through-line: strength of the move and volatility matter more than direction, and sizing is everything. This is educational and not a recommendation. 📊 tastylive: tastylive.com 📘 ...