When share price accelerates exponentially with our covered call writing stocks, the strike moves deeper in-the-money. Although the intrinsic-value component of the option premium rises, the time-value component approaches zero. This creates an opportunity to consider our mid-contract unwind exit strategy. Before implementing this, or any others in our exit strategy arsenal, we must identify […]

Determining Our Goal Before Unwinding Both Legs of a Covered Call Trade: A Real-Life Example with Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) + Trade Management Calculator Discount Coupon Expiring Soon
Posted on May 7, 2022 by Alan Ellman in Covered Call Exit Strategies, Exit Strategies, Investment Basics, Option Trading Basics, Options Calculations, Options Trade Execution

Analyzing Market Assessment Based on Portfolio Setup
Posted on November 14, 2020 by Alan Ellman in Investment Basics, Option Trading Basics, Options Calculations, Options Trade Execution, Stock Option Strategies
In May 2020, Gaetan sent me his portfolio positions for the May 2020 contracts. His cash available was $33,000.00 and decided to diversify with 5 different stocks. I thought it would be a useful exercise to look at his positions and analyze what we believe his overall market assessment was at the time of his […]

Am I Losing Money When I Buy Back My Deep In-The-Money Strike?
Posted on August 22, 2020 by Alan Ellman in Covered Call Exit Strategies, Exit Strategies, Investment Basics, Option Trading Basics, Options Calculations, Options Trade Execution, Stock Option Strategies
Recognizing successful covered call writing trades is just as important as executing them. On January 17, 2020, Mark wrote to me about a covered call trade that he was analyzing with SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG). He was concerned that if he bought back a deep in-the-money call, he would suffer a significant loss. Mark’s […]

Comparing the Cost-to-Close with Initial Trade Goal
Posted on February 15, 2020 by Alan Ellman in Covered Call Exit Strategies, Exit Strategies, Investment Basics, Option Trading Basics, Options Calculations, Options Trade Execution, Stock Option Strategies
When we enter our covered call trades, we make our stock and option selection based on our initial time-value return goal (2% – 4% for 1-month expirations in my case). If the strike moves deep in-the-money as share price accelerates, we may consider closing both legs of the trade or rolling the option out or […]

Realized Versus Unrealized Capital Gains: A Real-Life Example with GWRE
Posted on January 25, 2020 by Alan Ellman in Investment Basics, Option Trading Basics, Options Calculations, Options Trade Execution, Stock Option Strategies
Covered call writing calculations include initial and final computations. Since our trades incorporate both long stock and short option positions, it can become confusing when determining final capital gains (losses). In July 2019, Ralph shared with me a covered call trade he executed with Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE: GWRE). He sold an out-of-the-money (OTM) strike […]

Combining In-The-Money Strikes and Stock Dividends to Provide Protection in Bear Markets + Holiday Discounts
Posted on December 7, 2019 by Alan Ellman in Fundamental Analysis, Investment Basics, Option Trading Basics, Options Calculations, Options Trade Execution, Stock Investing, Stock Option Strategies
When establishing our covered call writing trades, we must factor in current market conditions to either add protection in bear and volatile environments or to take advantage of normal to bull market scenarios. On May 17, 2019, Mauricio sent me a diagrammatic strategy proposal that would lower the breakeven using an in-the-money (ITM) strike as […]

Selling Deep In-The-Money Calls to Exit Stock Positions
Posted on November 2, 2019 by Alan Ellman in Covered Call Exit Strategies, Exit Strategies, Investment Basics, Option Trading Basics, Options Calculations, Stock Option Strategies
Covered call writing is used predominantly to generate cash flow in a low-risk manner. But it can also be used to exit stock positions while mitigating losses in those trades. As an example, I will use a series of trades shared with me by Ashvin on May 16th, 2019. The underlying security was iShares MSCI […]

Delta as the Sole Criteria for Covered Call Writing Strike Selection
Posted on October 19, 2019 by Alan Ellman in Investment Basics, Option Trading Basics, Options Calculations, Options Trade Execution, Stock Option Strategies
Strike selection is the second required skill when writing covered call options or selling cash-secured puts. Over the years I have been asked to suggest a specific Delta for strike selection implying that this statistic would be the sole criterion to determine strike determination. This article will make a case why Delta, although important, should […]

Can We Manage Our In-The-Money Strikes to Create a No-Risk Investment Strategy?
Posted on September 7, 2019 by Alan Ellman in Covered Call Exit Strategies, Exit Strategies, Investment Basics, Option Trading Basics, Options Calculations, Options Trade Execution, Stock Investing, Stock Option Strategies
Covered call writing is a low-risk cash-generating strategy. It is not a no-risk strategy. As we become educated and master the 3-required skills (stock selection, option selection and position management), it is understandable why BCI members try to figure out strategies that can convert low-risk to no-risk. Here is a common inquiry I receive from […]

In-The-Money Covered Calls: Intrinsic Value Protects Time Value: A Real-Life Example with TEAM + New Tool Coming Soon
Posted on June 29, 2019 by Alan Ellman in Investment Basics, Option Trading Basics, Options Calculations, Stock Option Strategies
Meaningful option calculations are essential in determining if the premiums meet our covered call writing goals. To this end, we must understand the mathematics of these calculations to become elite option-sellers. Now don’t worry…we don’t have to become Albert Einstein to be successful. But we do have to have a general understanding of the components […]
Podcast
- 96. Protecting Our Covered Call Trades: Protective Puts and In-the-Money Strikes
- 95. Covered Call Writing to Generate Premium and Dividend Income
- 94. Covered Call Writing Net Debit Limit Orders
- 93. WHEN CALL STRIKES MOVE DEEP ITM EARLY IN A CONTRACT
- 92. Selling Deep OTM Cash-Secured Puts to Create High-Probability Returns
- 91. Portfolio Overwriting Analyzed
- 90. Entering a Collar Trade
- 89. Am I Losing Money When I Buy Back My Deep ITM Covered Call Options?
- 88. Creating a Portfolio of Weekly Cash-Secured Puts
- 87. Bear Market Concerns and Our Option Selling Portfolios
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