Karen Bruton Supertrader

Karen Bruton, known in trading circles as "Karen the Supertrader", gained fame after appearing in a 2012 interview with tastytrade where she described turning $700,000 into $41 million by systematically selling out-of-the-money puts and calls. Her story inspired thousands of retail traders to explore options income strategies. She later ran into regulatory issues when her fund was found to have mismarked positions. Her story became both an inspiration for options income traders and a case study in the risks of unchecked naked options selling — particularly during periods of elevated volatility. The Karen Supertrader story remains one of the most widely cited cautionary tales in retail options trading education, illustrating how a strategy that generates steady income in calm markets can produce catastrophic losses when volatility spikes unexpectedly — a dynamic that options educators have used to teach the asymmetric risk profile of systematic naked put and call writing.