Selling cash-secured puts is one of the go-to strategies in the BCI methodology. There has been some confusion for some of our members who conflate this strategy with covered puts, a completely different strategy. This article will define and compare the two strategies. Selling cash-secured puts defined A put option (generally out-of-the-money) is sold […]
Selling Cash-Secured Puts to Lower Cost basis
Selling cash-secured puts can be used to generate monthly cash flow and to buy a stock at a discount. It can also be used to lower the cost-basis of shares already owned. In November 2018, John shared with me a trade he was in with Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) using precisely this strategy. This article […]
Should We Add a Short Put to Our Collar Trades?
A collar trade is a covered call trade with a protective put. Jim recently wrote to me asking about the efficacy of also selling an out-of-the-money put to help pay for the cost of the protective put. This article will analyze this series of trades to assess the pros and cons of adding that fourth […]
Strike Price Selection When Selling Cash-Secured Puts: A Real-Life Example with WWE
Strike price selection is one of the 3-required skills when selling covered calls or cash-secured puts. This article will highlight the choices and rationale for our decisions when selling puts for World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) on 9/24/2018. Bullish price chart for WWE Option-selling lowers our cost-basis and therefore we make […]
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 […]
Protective Puts and the Collar Strategy: Selecting the Best Strike Prices/ Last Chance for Holiday Orders
Covered call writing, when combined with protective puts, is known as the collar strategy. The maximum gain is established by the short call strike while the maximum loss is defined by the long put strike. For example, if a stock is purchased for $48.00 per share and the $50.00 call is sold while the $45.00 […]
Rolling Down Our Put Positions: When and Why?
Rolling Down Our Put Positions: When and Why? When selling cash-secured puts, our breakeven stock price is the (out-of-the-money) strike price less the put premium. Our exit strategy guideline as to when to close the short put (buy back the put) is when share value declines to more than 3% below the strike price. […]
The Mysteries of a Put Sale
On 8/19/2017, Ron sent me an email detailing a cash-secured put trade he initiated in a virtual account. I saved the email to use in an article because I felt it would be instructive on several fronts. Ron’s trade with Abiomed, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABMD) 8/10/2017: Sell August 17 $155.00 put (sale price not […]
Writing Naked Calls on Poorly-Performing Stocks
Selling covered calls and cash-secured puts are the main strategies highlighted in our BCI community. Much of the information disseminated on the Blue Collar site, books and DVDs is based on member feedback, inquiries and comments. In September 2017, Marc sent me an email question about selling naked (without owning the underlying security before selling […]
Reasons for Early Exercise
Our covered call writing and put-selling options can be exercised at any time from the moment we sell these options until 4 PM ET on expiration Friday. This is the definition of American Style Options, the type associated with our stocks and exchange-traded funds. Early exercise (prior to contract expiration) is rare because option holders […]
