Most investors view covered call writing as a singular strategy where we buy a stock and then sell an option leveraging that security. In reality, educated option-sellers realize that one of the most remarkable advantages of using this strategy is that it can be crafted to achieve multiple goals and meet the trading style and […]
Portfolio Overwriting with Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL)
Portfolio overwriting is a covered call writing alternative strategy. Our goals include increasing our returns by a modest amount while still retaining ownership of the shares. Deep out-of-the-money strikes are sold with specific annualized returns in mind, let’s say 6% for purposes of this article. Apple Computer is a widely held stock by many of […]
Analyzing and Calculating a Multi-Leg Rolling-Down Covered Call Trade
Exit strategies for covered call writing will frequently allow us to convert losing trades to profitable ones. To corroborate this concept, a real-life example with Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) will be detailed. Initial trade structuring On 6/22/2020, 200 shares of NKE was purchased at $97.72 2 July 17, 2020 $99.00 calls were sold for […]
Automating the 20%/10% Guidelines
Position management is the 3rd required skill for achieving the highest level of option-selling success. One of the most important of the BCI protocols for covered call writing are the 20%/10% guidelines which assists us is closing short calls when those opportunities are presented. This allows us to mitigate situations when share price declines. These […]
How to Use Technical Analysis and Market Assessment for Strike Selection Guidance
Strike price selection is the second required skill for our covered call writing and put-selling portfolios. Stock (and ETF) selection and position management (exit strategies) are the other two. This article will highlight how we can use overall market assessment and price chart analysis to help guide us to the best strike price selections. […]
Ask Alan #172 – Rolling our Options: 2 Perspectives.
Alan answers a question posed by Roni, who asks: Alan, When our strike is in-the-money at expiration, why not let the option be assigned and realize our profit. When we roll out or out-and-up, we lose threefold: * Lose on the spread * Probably get a debit * Add risk as an appreciated stock can […]
Bear Market Concerns and our Option-Selling Portfolios
Covered call writing and selling cash-secured puts are stock option strategies with primary goals of income generation and capital preservation. Most of us are conservative investors who seek to beat the market on a consistent basis while minimizing portfolio risk. This is one of the mission statements of the BCI methodology. In the past few […]
Market Volatility and Our Option-Selling Trades: Using the VIX to Achieve Higher Returns
Options trading basics teaches us that the VIX or CBOE Volatility Index reflects the market’s expectation of the upcoming 30-day volatility. It measures market risk and is also known as the investor fear gauge. With this in mind, option-sellers are faced with a dilemma. Increased market volatility will translate into higher option premiums because the […]
Managing In-The-Money Strikes When Share Price Moves Higher
When we sell in-the-money call options, we are generating initial time-value profit that meets our stated goals plus creating downside protective of that time-value profit in the form of intrinsic -value. The disadvantage of these options is that we do not benefit from share appreciation because of our contract obligation to sell at the lower […]
Risky Stocks Can Result in Challenging Decisions
Writing covered calls with high-volatility stocks will result in higher premiums. That’s the good news. These securities may also decline substantially below the strike price and cause option premium to pale in comparison to the share depreciation. That’s the bad news. What if these shares move up exponentially, leaving the strike deep in-the-money and we […]
