Options Trading Alerts: How CFU's Alert Service Works

By Stephen Manning · @StephenCFU on X · 2026-10-02 · 13 min read

How options trading alerts work: what's in one, when it goes up, what to ask an options alert service, and what CFU's audited record shows, losses included.

An options trading alert is a message with one complete options trade in it, ready to place: ticker, strategy, strikes, expiry, price, size and the exit plan. At Cash Flow University (CFU), four traders and our rules-based CFU System post them in real time in a private Discord community. Every alert states the trade's risk, a profit target and a stop or roll trigger. You place each order yourself, at your own broker.

I run CFU, so weigh what I say about it with that in mind.

What are options trading alerts?

An alert is one trade plus how it will be managed. An options alert service sends those as they happen, by app, Discord, text or email. An options advisory service is usually slower, more of a newsletter with model positions and longer commentary.

Either kind of option trading service sends the same trade to everyone on the list. You still decide whether to place it and how big to go.

Are options alerts posted before or after the trade?

Depends on the service. Some post before the order is sent and some wait until it fills, and that changes what the price on the alert means. If the alert went up before the order, the price is a limit to work toward and the order hasn't filled yet. On an alert posted after the fill, somebody actually got that price, though the market can move before your own order fills.

At CFU we do both. It depends on who's posting:

• Trader alerts go up the moment that trader's order fills, with the fill price. Your own fill can come in different, from drift or slippage.
• CFU System alerts go up before the order is sent. I manage the CFU System, our rules-based trades, and we work its fill alongside members.

Every Discord post carries a timestamp, so you can always check when an alert went up.

What does an options alert contain?

Every CFU alert gives you the ticker, strategy, strikes, expiry, size, the trade's stated risk, a profit target and a stop or roll trigger, plus the reasoning behind it. Between the alert and its follow-ups you'll see these parts:

• The alert type, like NEW OPEN TRADE, CLOSE TRADE FOR PROFIT, ROLL TRADE or SWITCH TRADE, and then the ticker.
• The order, one line per leg, with the number of contracts. For example "STO SPX 6/18 6750 CALL" and "BTO SPX 6/18 6770 CALL" (sell to open, buy to open).
• The price, which on a trader's alert is the fill. A CFU System alert gives the limit credit or debit to work instead.
• The math where it applies: credit, spread width, maximum loss, break-even and margin requirement. Not every alert carries every line. A LEAP call has no credit or width, so its alert gives the debit paid, and that's the most it can lose.
• A profit target and a stop or roll trigger, with that trade's own numbers.
• Sentiment and reasoning, with a chart.
• Follow-ups when the trade is rolled or closed, in the same channel as the entry alert. A close shows the realized result, win or lose.

A real alert: an SPX loss, posted when it opened and when it closed

Kyle opened an SPX call credit spread on 31 March 2026 and his alert went up with the fill: a $960 credit and a $2,000 margin requirement on the 6,750/6,770 calls. Most it could lose was $1,040.

It went against him. The close went up on 18 June reading "ALLOW TRADE TO EXPIRE ITM FOR MAX LOSS", and the loss was the full $1,040. Both posts are on our proofs page.

How are options alerts delivered?

Alert services use an app, Discord, text or email. Ours go into a private Discord server in real time, and Discord sends a push notification to your phone. When you join you connect your Discord account, and access is applied within a couple of minutes. The Sunday CFU Insider email doesn't carry trade alerts.

None of it is automated or hooked up to a broker. If you want to see how a day with alerts actually runs, there's a 15-minute daily routine for working through alerts on the blog.

Who posts CFU's alerts, and how often?

Four traders, each with their own channel: Kyle, The Dean, Uzi Options and Business Famous. Each one posts a trade the moment their own order fills. The CFU System posts alongside them, and moderators answer questions during market hours.

Over the 13 full weeks from 29 June to 27 September 2026, the feeds opened 139 new trades, about 11 a week. The slowest week had 6 and the busiest had 17. At least one new trade went up on 52 of the 63 market days, and those same weeks had 134 closes and 43 rolls. Last month's new and closed trades are on the performance page.

Which strategies do CFU's alerts cover?

Mostly we sell options premium. Put credit spreads are the biggest single strategy, about a quarter of the 700 trades opened in the 12 months to 2 October 2026.

So about 30% of these trades sit outside the six core income strategies, which are covered calls, cash-secured puts, put and call credit spreads, iron condors and select long calls.

A credit spread has a fixed maximum loss, the width less the credit. An iron condor is a put spread and a call spread together. Cash-secured puts and covered calls carry the risk of owning 100 shares, and LEAP calls and long calls can lose what you paid for them.

Then there are strangles, jade lizards, naked calls and some ratio spreads. They have a short option with no long option behind it, so the loss isn't capped the way a spread's is. On cash-secured puts, covered calls and strangles, the alert says the risk is larger than a spread's.

What are CFU's house risk rules?

• Sizing. Risk 1 to 2% of your account on any one trade. There's more on how to size an options trade if you want it. The record counts one contract per trade.
• Rolling. A roll closes a position and opens a later one in the same order. Since October 2026 our rule is one roll at most, so roll once and you're done, or don't roll at all. If a rolled trade is threatened again we close it and take the loss. Older positions in the record were sometimes rolled more than once, some many times, and each counts as one trade at its final close.
• Exits. Every alert states its own profit target and stop or roll trigger. How we think about exits is in when we close early and when we let a trade run.

Two real CFU trades: a $79 win and a $705 loss

Both are put credit spreads from the record. Neither was rolled, and the results are per contract.

The Dean's SPX loss was a clean one, opened and closed with no roll. Some losing positions get rolled first and close later, and each of those counts as one trade at its final result.

What does CFU's audited trade record show?

From 1 July 2025 to 28 July 2026 we closed 760 trades. Of those, 706 won and 54 lost, a 92.9% win rate. The average win was $148 and the average loss was $519, per contract at one contract per trade, which works out to a profit factor of 3.73. CSH Analytics, an independent firm we hired to audit the record, has audited it monthly and annually since April 2023.

I wouldn't look at the win rate by itself. The average loss is about three and a half times the average win, so one loss can take back several wins. The profit factor of 3.73 means the winners made $3.73 for every $1.00 the losers cost.

We're not hiding anything. Every closed trade stays in the record, losses included, and that's 1,200+ closed trades since April 2023. Members see every trade. Anyone can read the audit report (PDF) and the performance page, and the audit is built from the same numbers members see.

What should you ask an options alert service, and how does CFU answer?

Ask every service these before you pay, us included. To weigh a few of them side by side, there's our comparison of options trading alert and advisory services.

What do you need to follow CFU's alerts?

• A broker of your choice. Our onboarding FAQ names tastytrade, Charles Schwab and thinkorswim, Fidelity, E*TRADE and Interactive Brokers.
• Level 3 options approval with a margin account. Make sure your approval covers credit spreads.
• At least about $5,000 for the spreads. For cash-secured puts and covered calls you need enough to hold 100 shares of the stock. Under that, the membership fee is a big share of the account and CFU isn't a good fit.
• Discord on your phone, and 15 to 30 minutes a day. You don't have to watch charts or day trade.

Do the math against your own account before anything else. One spread contract can carry several hundred dollars of risk, and the two trades above carried $379 and $705. How CFU Works walks through setup after you join.

If you want a tip that triples an account by Friday, skip CFU. Same if you want someone else to own the risk decision, need the money back next month or want trades placed for you. There's no one-on-one coaching in the membership either, and no live trade room.

What do CFU's options alerts cost?

Members get the same access on every plan: the alerts from every trader feed, the strategy library, the scanner suite, the performance record and the open Q&A. No tier unlocks better or faster alerts, and there's no onboarding fee.

You can cancel a monthly or annual subscription any time in two clicks from your billing page, and nobody makes you phone in. Access runs to the end of the period you paid for and you aren't charged again. All payments are non-refundable on every plan, as the refund policy sets out. See the membership plans.

How can you look at CFU before you pay?

• The free covered call scanner and cash-secured put scanner, no sign-up needed. Enter any US stock or ETF and they apply CFU's rules: an expiry usually 21 to 45 days out, a strike near 0.25 delta and a flag when earnings fall before expiry.
• The Starter Kit. It takes 30 seconds and no credit card, and you get the Options Income Blueprint ebook, a daily preview from the PCS-100 put credit spread scanner and free Discord access.
• The CFU Insider, a Sunday email that goes to 2,300+ investors. It covers what moved markets and how I'm positioned, plus one durable idea.

Options trading alerts FAQ

Are CFU's options alerts posted before or after the trade is entered?

Both, and it depends who's posting. A trader posts after their own order fills, so the price you see is a real fill, and yours can differ if the market has moved. The CFU System posts before its order is sent. That price is a limit to work, and we work the fill alongside you.

Do CFU's options alerts work with thinkorswim, tastytrade or Webull?

Yes, as long as your account at that broker can place the trade. You enter each order yourself and CFU doesn't connect to any broker. Both thinkorswim and tastytrade are on the list in our onboarding FAQ, along with Charles Schwab, Fidelity, E*TRADE and Interactive Brokers. If you're on Webull or another broker, check you have Level 3 options approval with margin before you join.

Are CFU's alerts automated, or can I copy-trade them?

No. We post the trade and you decide if it fits. If it does, you place the order at your own broker. Nothing connects CFU to your brokerage account, and we never place an order in it.

How much do CFU's options alerts cost?

Monthly is $99.99. Annual is $649, about $54 a month, and Lifetime is $1,749 paid once. You get the same real-time alerts from every feed on all three.

How much money do I need to follow CFU's alerts?

Plan on at least about $5,000 for the spreads, in a margin account with Level 3 options approval. A cash-secured put or covered call takes enough to own 100 shares of that stock. Then check each alert's stated risk against our house rule of 1 to 2% of your account.

Is CFU an options advisory service?

No. CFU is an education membership and nothing we post is personalized advice. The traders and the CFU System publish the trades they take, with the risk and the exits, and what fits your account is your call.

Can I see CFU's trade record before I join?

Yes, in summary. The audit report and the performance page are public, and members see every trade. CSH Analytics, the independent firm we hired to audit the record, audits it monthly and annually from the same numbers members see.

Are paid options alerts worth it?

It depends on the service and on your account. Before you pay anyone, check that an outside firm audits the record, that the losses are shown and that the average loss sits next to the win rate. Then put the fee against your account size. Under about $5,000 ours is a big share, and that's where CFU isn't a good fit. If you'd rather build your own watchlist, the free scanners apply our rules to any US stock or ETF.

Can a beginner use CFU's alerts?

Yes, if you take it slow. The free Options Income Blueprint tells you to paper trade the setups first. When you move to real trades, start with one contract. And if an alert doesn't make sense to you, ask. Moderators answer questions during market hours.

Can I cancel, and do you give refunds?

You can cancel any time from your billing page with no phone call, and you keep access until your paid period ends. We don't give refunds. Payments on every plan are non-refundable.

Cash Flow University LLC publishes options trades for education, and nothing in this post or in any alert is personalized advice. Options carry risk and are not suitable for everyone. A spread can lose its full maximum loss, and a position with an uncovered short option can lose more. Past results, audited or not, do not predict future results.

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