Aug 11, 2012 | Option Trading Basics, Options Calculations
Option trading basics incorporates fundamental, technical and common sense decisions. One of these, as it relates to covered call writing, is selecting a strike price for the short options position. In bearish and volatile markets I tend to favor the in-the-money...
Jul 21, 2012 | Covered Call Exit Strategies, Option Trading Basics, Stock Option Strategies
Exit strategy execution is critical to maximizing our covered call writing success. But what approach should we use if the underlying equity declines in value? Many investors use a stop loss order when a stock they own declines in value. The question then becomes is...
Jul 14, 2012 | Option Trading Basics
What makes some stock option premiums worth so much more than others? Let’s say we have two stocks, A and B. Both are trading @ $25/share. We look to sell the same month at-the-money $25 strike and one (stock A) returns 2% and the other (stock B) 4%. WHY? The answer...
Jul 7, 2012 | Option Trading Basics
We have all heard the term “the Greeks” as it applies to stock options. Most of us know that these factors somehow explain how certain parameters can impact the value of an option premium. To avoid facing some members of the BCI community claiming that...
Jun 18, 2012 | Option Trading Basics, Options Calculations, Stock Option Strategies
Whenever a study is performed on covered call writing a stock is selected and the nearest out-of-the-money (O-T-M) strike price is sold. This is repeated over and over and then the results are compared to the overall market performance. The usual conclusion is that...
Jun 9, 2012 | Option Trading Basics
As covered call writers, we have all looked at options chains. That’s where we determine how much cash will be generated into our accounts when we sell our options. It’s fun! We first inspect the current price of the underlying security (stock or ETF). Then we check...