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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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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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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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Technical Analysis for Options: A Real-Life Example with Deckers Outdoor Corp. (NYSE: DECK)

In our BCI methodology, we use a 3-pronged approach to screening for our covered call writing and put-selling portfolios: Fundamental analysis (sales & earnings Technical analysis (trend, volume and momentum) Common-sense principles (minimum trading volume, avoiding earnings reports among others) This article will focus in on the technical analysis of DECK on 10/20/2022 and show […]

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Establishing 84% Probability of Success Put Trades in Bear Markets

Selling deep out-of-the-money cash-secured puts in bear markets will provide us with additional protection to the downside in return for lower, but still significant, option returns. This article will highlight the use of Delta and implied volatility to establish a framework for executing such trades with n 84% probability of success.   What is Delta? […]

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