Remote Funded Options Income Trader — Chicago, IL

Trading from Chicago, IL

Chicago is the global capital of derivatives trading. The CME, CBOE, and the cluster of prop firms in the West Loop — Citadel, DRW, Optiver, Jump, IMC, Belvedere — make this the city with the highest density of professional traders per capita anywhere outside Manhattan. The Central Time zone is a natural fit for trading US equities: an 8:30am open with a 3pm close gives a long afternoon and a manageable schedule.

Local ecosystem: CME, CBOE, and a major cluster of prop trading firms in the West Loop and Loop districts.

Time zone: CT — the NYSE opens at 8:30am local for traders based in Chicago.

What You'll Trade

Credit spreads on liquid US equities and ETFs, cash-secured puts on names the trader would be willing to own, and covered calls on equity positions held in the firm's book. Trades are sized based on max-loss, not premium collected. Underlyings must clear liquidity screens — wide bid-ask spreads are an automatic disqualifier.

Day-to-Day

• Morning: review existing positions for tested strikes, time decay status, and adjustment triggers
• Identify new entries off a probability-based screen (e.g., short delta range, IV rank thresholds)
• Execute trades with limit orders inside the spread, never market orders
• Manage in-the-money positions to mechanical rules — roll out, roll down, or close at a defined loss multiple
• Track expected value vs. actual P&L across hundreds of trades, not single weeks

Risk Profile

Premium-selling looks profitable until it isn't. Maverick's risk framework caps max loss per spread, total notional exposure, and beta-weighted portfolio delta. Tail-risk events (8 sigma moves) are anticipated, not denied — we expect a few rough months a year and size so they don't end careers.

Who Succeeds in This Role

• Traders who understand 'probability of profit' is not the same as 'expected return'
• People who can follow mechanical management rules without overriding them mid-trade
• Candidates with a quantitative mindset — comfortable thinking in distributions
• Traders who don't need every position to win to feel like the strategy is working

Why This Role Exists at Maverick

Premium-selling done right is one of the most consistent income strategies in markets — and one of the easiest to ruin with bad sizing. Maverick built this role around traders who already think in probabilities and want firm capital deployed against a strategy that pays steady cash flow when risk is managed. The 65–90% profit split applies to net P&L after the inevitable rough months.

Tools & Platform

Most options income traders here use ThinkOrSwim or Tastytrade for execution, plus the firm's risk dashboard for portfolio-level Greeks. Position sizing tools and an IV-rank scanner are provided.

Common Mistakes We See

The single most common career-ending mistake we see is doubling down on losers by rolling for credit without rolling for risk. Maverick's framework explicitly forbids it past a defined threshold.

What Maverick Offers

• Trade firm capital — no personal capital at risk
• 65%–90% profit split based on performance tier
• Performance-based capital scaling, no upper cap
• Professional training and mentorship from active traders
• Fully remote — trade from anywhere with reliable internet (US applicants)
• Monthly ACH payouts
• No challenge accounts, no evaluations, no monthly fees

About Maverick Trading

Maverick Trading is a proprietary trading firm founded in 1997. We allocate firm capital to disciplined traders and scale buying power based on performance. We are not a brokerage, we do not run challenge accounts, and we do not sell evaluations. We profit only when our traders profit.