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 […]

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 […]

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: […]
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