Assignment is the point where the wheel changes gear. You stop holding cash and start holding shares. Here's exactly what happens.

You're assigned 100 shares per contract at the strike price. You keep the premium regardless.

At the next weekday morning check, the system closes the option in your records, notes the premium as realized profit, and opens an equity position at the strike price. That strike becomes your cost basis.

Nothing is required from you. Your brokerage handles the assignment itself; the system reconciles it the following morning.

On the next weekday entry window (10:00 AM or 1:00 PM Eastern), the system can sell a call against your tracked shares, using the same delta and DTE targets as your call settings. No additional buying power is committed, because the shares themselves cover the call. Covered calls are not Monday-gated, even at 7 DTE.

Calls are sized only against shares this system tracks (shares it was assigned, or share lots you explicitly imported into the system). Shares of the same company that sit in your brokerage account but were never assigned or imported do not count.

If the system has no tracked shares for a symbol, it treats that symbol as flat and sells a cash-secured put, even if your brokerage shows a long stock balance you bought yourself. Contract size is also capped at tracked shares: if the system tracks 100 shares and your broker holds 200, it sells one call, not two.

To have Wheel Paycheck write calls against shares you already owned, import those lots first. See Importing existing trades into a system.

If Don't Sell Call Unless Strike Is Above Entry is on (it is by default), calls are only sold above your weighted-average cost basis. This means shares called away are never sold at a loss on the stock itself.

The trade-off matters. If the stock falls well below your basis, no acceptable strike exists and the system sells nothing on that symbol. You hold the shares and collect no premium until the price recovers or you change the setting.

This is the most common reason a wheel position goes quiet after assignment.

If a call expires in the money, your shares are sold at the strike. The morning check records the premium and closes the equity position, oldest lots first, with the realized gain or loss on each.

You're back to cash on that symbol. The next eligible put entry depends on your put DTE (Monday only for 7 DTE puts; any weekday otherwise). See When Wheel Paycheck trades.

The system's assignment process is authoritative for shares it tracks. If you sell assigned shares yourself, do it knowing the system may have a covered call open against them. Selling the shares leaves that call uncovered, which is a materially different risk. Close the call first.

Why am I holding shares I didn't buy? A put was assigned. That's the wheel working as designed. Check your closed trades for the put and the premium collected.

Why isn't it selling calls on my shares? Two common causes: (1) the shares aren't tracked by this system (you bought them yourself and haven't imported them), so Wheel sells a put instead; import the lots if you want covered calls. (2) the cost basis floor: the stock is below your basis and no strike qualifies. Check the execution history.

Can I stop it selling calls? Turn the system off, or remove that symbol from your approved list. Neither closes what's already open.

What if I don't want the shares? Sell them yourself. The system will return that symbol to selling puts once it's flat, so if you don't want to own it at all, remove it from your approved symbols too.