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How to Adjust a Poor Man’s Covered Call (PMCC) Trade to Align with the BCI Trade Initialization Formula

The PMCC is a covered call writing-like strategy where LEAPS options act as surrogates for the underlying stock or ETF. It is technically called a long call diagonal debit spread and has the advantage of lower cost to enter the trade when compared to traditional covered call writing. Short (covered) calls are sold against this […]

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Evaluating a Series of Multi-Rolling Covered Call Trades: A Real-Life Example with Elevance Health Inc. (NYSE: ELV)

In this article, we will analyze a series of covered call trades shared with me by a BCI premium member. These trade executions involve establishing a bullish covered call position, then rolling-down and then rolling-out. All of our trades serve as learning opportunities and these ELV trades are no exceptions. ELV trades from 11/7/2022 to […]

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Analyzing a Covered Call Trade Over 2 Expiration Cycles: A Rea-Life Example with Interactive Brokers Group (Nasdaq: IBKR)

Covered call writing exit strategies can involve trade adjustments over 1 or more expiration cycles. This article will analyze a series of trades shared with me by Ken, where the share price of IBKR declined after entering the trade and a decision to retain the shares for the next cycle and the (now) out-of-the-money call […]

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Multiple Applications of the Mid-Contract Unwind (MCU) Exit Strategy: A Real-Life Example with Super Micro Computer, Inc. (Nasdaq: SMCI)

Covered call writing exit strategies allow us to mitigate trade losses and enhance trade profits. On 11/30/2022, Paul shares with me a series of trades he executed with SMCI where a trade turned against him, and he wasn’t sure how to enter it into the BCI Trade Management Calculator. Both legs of the covered call […]

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Application of the 20%/10% Guidelines for ITM & OTM Strikes + Registration Form for Thursday’s Webinar

One of the key methods to partially automate our covered call writing exit strategy arsenal is to place buy-to-close (BTC), good until cancelled (GTC) limit orders to close our short calls based on our BCI 20%/10% guidelines. We instruct our broker to buy back the short call if the value reaches 20% (in the 1st […]

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Analyzing a Defensive Turned Aggressive Covered Call Trade: A Real-Life Example with Select Sector SPDR Utilities (NYSE: XLU)

When we craft our covered call trades, we must decide if a defensive (in-the-money or ITM calls) or aggressive (out-of-the-money or OTM) position should be established. We base this on overall market assessment, chart technical pattern and personal risk-tolerance. We should also have a plan in place should share value move up or down significantly […]

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The Poor Man’s Covered Call: How to Re-Structure a Potentially Losing Trade into a Winning One

The Poor Man’s Covered Call is a covered call writing-like strategy where a LEAPS option is used as a surrogate for the actual stock or exchange-traded fund (ETF). When structuring our PMCC trades, we must make sure it aligns with our required initial structuring formula. This will allow us to close our PMCC trades at […]

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Understanding the Math When Rolling ITM Covered Calls Out-And-Up: A Real-Life Example with Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLU) + Save the Date May 11th

All strategies, including covered call writing and selling cash-secured puts, have their pros and cons. The same holds true for the exit strategies associated with them. Several of our members have written to me over the years regarding a “can’t lose” portfolio overwriting strategy that will return 1% – 2% per-month by selling out-of-the-money (OTM) […]

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How to Record & Calculate ITM Covered Call Trades that Become OTM Trades

To properly analyze our covered call writing and put-selling trades, we must accurately record each step of the trades such that initial and final results are accurate. In this article, a hypothetical covered call trade which starts out in-the-money (ITM) but ends up out-of-the-money (OTM) at contract expiration will be analyzed. The BCI Trade Management […]

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Establishing Our Option Portfolios in the Heart of Earnings Season

Populating our covered call writing and put-selling portfolios during earnings season can be challenging but nothing we can’t overcome. This article will provide ideas as to how to craft our portfolios using elite-performing securities while still avoiding the risk of earnings reports (ERs) using our BCI screening reports.   Resources to consider Stocks that report […]

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