Covered call writers must understand and evaluate the success (or lack thereof) of our trades. Simply stated, are they winners or losers? In June 2019, Van shared with me trades he executed with the exchange-traded fund (ETF), Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLE). He was trying to categorize his trade as a winner or […]
Analyzing 4-Day and 2-Month Trades with XBI
Mario was generous in sharing his covered call writing trades with SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (NYSE: XBI). The trades were executed over a 2-month time-frame, the last of which was a 4-day Weekly option. Mario’s trades with XBI 4/17/2019: Buy XBI at $84.95 4/17/2019 – 6/2019: Sell calls and “hit doubles” to lower cost-basis […]
Implied Volatility and Expected Price Movement of our Stocks During the Life of a Contract
Implied volatility (IV) is directly related to the value of the premiums we receive when selling covered call and put options. The more volatile the underlying security, the greater the premium and risk exposure. I have written quite a bit about IV over the years and distinguished it from historical volatility (HV). This article will […]
VIX Covered Call Writing: Selling Options Against Market Volatility
Traditional covered call writing involves first buying a stock (or exchange-traded fund) and then selling a corresponding call option. The result of the initial trade is to generate cash flow from the option sale and lower our cost basis on the stock side. Based on member feedback, there has been a growing interest in writing […]
Covered Call Writing with Only One Security
Diversification is one of the key common-sense requirements when selling covered calls or cash-secured puts. When using individual stocks, the BCI guidelines are a minimum requirement of 5 different stocks in 5 different industries where any one position cannot represent more than 20% of our entire portfolio. We can use fewer securities when using exchange-traded […]
Inverse Exchange-Traded Funds versus Shorting Stocks
In bear markets, one of the tools we can benefit from with our covered call writing and put-selling strategies is inverse exchange-traded funds (ETFs). An inverse ETF is also known as a short ETF or a bear ETF. These securities are constructed to return the exact opposite performance of a certain benchmark or index. Many […]
Market Volatility and VIX-Based Exchange-Traded Notes
Our covered call writing and put-selling portfolios have been significantly impacted the past few weeks from extreme market volatility. In addition to rising wages, inflation concerns and projected interest rate hikes, volatility based exchange-traded notes are also playing a role in the market decline. What is the VIX? The VIX is also known as […]
ETF Index Tracker Proposed Strategy: A Risk-Free Investment?
Using covered call writing and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is a viable approach to generating monthly cash flow. I personally use this strategy in my mother’s portfolio. Can this investment style be expanded to include inverse ETFs to move this expanded path to a near risk-free system? In April 2017, Rushbabh, a member from Australia, was kind enough […]
New Broker Rule: The Labor Department’s Fiduciary Rule for Retirement Accounts
A key mission statement of The Blue Collar Investor is to “become CEO of your own money” A new rule issued by the US Department of Labor highlights why this is so important. In the past, stock brokers were not required to put the best interest of their clients ahead of their own. This is in […]
Leveraged ETFs and Margin Accounts for High-Risk Traders Only
Covered call writing results can be enhanced through the use of leveraged ETFs and margin accounts. However, so too is the risk elevated. In this article, the pros and cons of these strategies are examined. Definitions Leveraged ETF: An exchange-traded fund (ETF) that uses financial derivatives and debt to magnify the returns of an underlying index. Margin account: […]
