The main reason for early exercise of our covered call writing options relates to corporate dividends. The key date to be aware of is the ex-dividend date. This article will clarify and define the dates related to corporate dividends and also discuss an anomaly related to special dividends. Early exercise of our covered call […]

Will My Stock Be Sold Because of the $2.00 Dividend? A Real-Life Example with Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (Nasdaq: SBLK)
On 2/21/2022, Bob wrote a 3/17/2022 $29.00 call on SBLK. On 2/26/2022, SBLK was trading at $31.76 and the cost-to-close the short call was $2.78. On 3/1/2022, SBLK was going ex-dividend for an eventual $2.00 per-share distribution. Will Bob’s shares be sold the day prior to the ex-date? Case for early exercise Ex-dividend dates […]

Should Good News Discourage Us From Entering a Covered Call Trade?
We examine the BCI Premium Stock Report on the Sunday May 23, 2021, after expiration Friday, for our Monday trade selections. One of the securities we choose is Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT). On Monday morning, May 24th, AMAT gaps up well above the price movement of the S&P 500. Is AMAT now too expensive? […]

What is a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company)?
Are SPACs reliable candidates for our covered call writing and put-selling portfolios? This article will define and explain the anatomy of a SPAC so we can decide if they deserve a place in our conservative option-selling portfolios. SPAC defined This is a company with no commercial operations (products or services) that is created to […]

Adjusting Our Portfolio Mix to Achieve Diversification and Cash Allocation
To decrease portfolio risk for our covered call writing and put-selling portfolios we must be well diversified and allocate a similar amount of cash per position. The allotment of cash per-position will rarely be precise but it is a goal we must incorporate into our methodology. In this article, I will describe the process for […]
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