IWM
iShares Russell 2000 ETF
stock NYSE ETF

I ran across IWM a while back. Spreads, liquidity, and delta/gamma/movement seemed favorable so I dove in. I am familiar with SPY but not RUT. Which don’t prefer of the 3?

So why IWM and not SPY?
More importantly, why not RUT to save on commissions and taxes.

100% IWM

I am fairly new to options but I trade basically like you. I am close to retirement so I’m pretty conservative. I trade VT,
VXUS,SCHD,IWM,RSP,QQQ, SPY, SOXL I would hold basically these funds if I wasn’t trading options On them anyway so getting assigned doesn’t bother me. I like 2 week expirations because of the higher yearly total premium I will do monthly if needed. I try for 0.7-1% premium per trade 1-1.5% on monthly. I try to allow the options to automatically close/ expire or assign and place new trades on the following Monday. I do this to basically make it easier and so I’m not trading all the time just a couple hours at most every 2 weeks. When I was trading more volatility funds and individual stocks and trading weekly the returns were higher but it was more work and more volatility in my total returns. With the stable big diversified portfolio i am trading on now I’m have about a 22-24% return

I’ve used them for several years now. Often trading SPY and IWM 0dte’s. My orders on those always go right through. On stock options they are fine on higher volume low spread options but some of the lower volume higher spread options it seems like Webull and others get a better price inside the spread.
As I guess you have already noticed the charting isn’t advanced. They do have an options wizard but it’s just on the site and not the app.
The options menu is very simple and straightforward. The only change I would make to it is have it automatically update pricing in real time. You have to hit refresh.
I have had issues 2-3 times with the app not connecting (usually at market open).

I can't believe I saw Kospi down 8% before market open yesterday and didn't get puts on SPY at 749. I saw the dollar chunked down and rate hike odds were down so I thought it might reverse market sentiment. Saw spy drop to 747 and rebound to 748 while IWM and IWO were still tanking and thought for sure it's going to keep going down. It did, obviously, I lost a bunch trying to buy 0 DTE calls on MU. I made a little back buying calls on SPY and NVDA around 741 and 192.5. Didnt hold for a big win all the way to market close, and lost again on puts bought 10 minutes before market close. To imagine I could have bought 0 DTE puts on SNDK. Kospi down 8% was in the back of my mind the whole day. Massive big opportunity squandered.

Hey there’s an idea! $IWMI for income & $IWM for the wheel! Then again, I may have enough going on & may not want to run the wheel…

IWM, BAC, or WFC on a Friday after Noon, and pray for a catalyst, or yolo a .10 SPX play on Fed day, and hope you’re right on the direction, scalp it for 30% over and over till you get to $50 ish, then scalp the aforementioned stocks still you get to $100. From there you can get a reasonable contract with that much capital, but make sure you use stop losses next time.

Well, IWM dumped so hard today lol

Would anyone venture to provide **annual return figures** for these? Obviously don't want personal account balance figures, just changes.
Ideal would be a set and forget account, one initial deposit (none subsequent), no withdrawals. Or as close to that as you can come (estimated % withdrawal, etc.).
Schwab's pages give current year and a couple multi-year averages. I want to know portfolio declines in specific years to compare with, say SPY (one deposit, no subsequent deposits or withdrawals)
FWIW, here is how I asked Grok for general market performance (SPY, QQQ, IWM; no robo account):
[https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtNA\_98e69223-b249-4b8c-9082-787db592d575](https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtNA_98e69223-b249-4b8c-9082-787db592d575)

I’m looking at the market right now in mid-2026 and trying to figure out where to put fresh capital for a 6-8 month horizon (roughly through Q1/Q2 2027). The AI trade is still going strong, but there’s also talk of rotation, valuation concerns in some mega-caps, and potential broadening out.
Specifically, I’m considering the big AI/cloud names:
• Amazon (AMZN) — AWS growth looks solid and they have e-commerce/ads for diversification.
• Alphabet/Google (GOOGL) — Cloud is competitive, search/AI moat is huge.
• Microsoft (MSFT) — Azure + OpenAI enterprise play feels steady.
• Palantir (PLTR) — Commercial AI momentum is insane lately, but it’s volatile and pricey.
• Nvidia (NVDA) — Still the AI GPU king, but valuations are stretched and there’s competition/capex digestion risk.
Or should I be looking at other AI beneficiaries (Broadcom, TSMC, Oracle, etc.) or even non-AI stuff?
Also, what about small caps? I’ve seen a lot of commentary that small caps (Russell 2000) are finally set up for outperformance in 2026 — cheaper valuations, better expected earnings growth, potential rotation away from mega-tech, etc. Is now a good time to add some small-cap exposure via IWM or individual names, or is it still too risky for a medium-term hold?
I’m mostly bullish on tech/AI long-term but don’t want to be too concentrated if there’s a pullback or broadening. Portfolio is already heavy in big tech, so thinking about balance.
Would love thoughtful takes on:
• Which of the above looks best positioned for the next 6-8 months?
• Any other stocks or sectors worth considering?
• Small-cap thesis — yay or nay, and how to play it?
Appreciate any opinion.
Thanks in advance!

SOXL is down 33% since its top on June 22nd, 2026, Yet, SPY has not seen a similar directional impact from the $SOX $SMH mega caps price drop; e.g. $NVDA $AVGO $DRAM and $SPMO components.
The market has seen rotation to $IWM $RTY $IGV and oversold $MAGS like $META $AAPL $TSLA etc.

I need a $1-$2 pump on IWM stat! Thank you for your matter to this attention.

IWM red . Nice

Learn options trading. 1DTE, A.T.M. Trade only SPY QQQ NVDA IWM. Don’t trade in a daily chart wick.