beginners corner

Timeline

2020

August 8^th What Do Covered Call Writing and Steroids Have in Common? 7 comments
August 1^st Portfolio Overwriting with Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL) 19 comments
July 25^th Analyzing and Calculating a Multi-Leg Rolling-Down Covered Call Trade 34 comments
July 18^th Automating the 20%/10% Guidelines 49 comments
July 11^th How to Use Technical Analysis and Market Assessment for Strike Selection Guidance 30 comments
July 8^th Ask Alan #172 – Rolling our Options: 2 Perspectives. 5 comments
July 4^th Bear Market Concerns and our Option-Selling Portfolios 25 comments
June 27^th Market Volatility and Our Option-Selling Trades: Using the VIX to Achieve Higher Returns 49 comments
June 20^th Managing In-The-Money Strikes When Share Price Moves Higher 30 comments
June 13^th Risky Stocks Can Result in Challenging Decisions 30 comments
June 6^th Setting Up a Portfolio of NASDAQ and S&P 500 Stocks In a User-Friendly and Time-Efficient Manner + New Products and Discount Coupons 19 comments
May 30^th Reverse Stock Splits: Understanding Contract Adjustments 29 comments
May 23^rd Myths and Misunderstandings About Covered Call Writing 20 comments
May 16^th Buyers Have Rights, Sellers Have Obligations: Covered Call Writing in a Nutshell 31 comments
May 9^th REITS: Good Covered Call Writing Candidates? A Real-Life Example with PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE: PMT) 17 comments
May 2^nd Adjusting Target Goals with ETFs 25 comments
April 25^th Dividend Yield Should Be a Secondary Factor When Selecting Stocks for Our Covered Call Writing Portfolio 38 comments
April 18^th Put-Call Parity and Arbitrage Opportunities 23 comments
April 11^th Mid-Contract Unwind Exit Strategy at the End of a Contract 49 comments
April 4^th Strike Selection Using Technical Analysis and Market Assessment 25 comments
March 28^th Collar Calculations: Adding Protective Puts to our Covered Call Trades 32 comments
March 21^st Volatility and the Post-Crash Decade 32 comments
March 14^th Technical Charts: A Picture is Worth 1000 Words- A Real-Life Example with The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ: WEN) 25 comments
March 7^th Comparing Call and Put Strategies with Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: PCTY) 20 comments
February 29^th Creating “Dividends” for Non-Dividend Stocks: A Real-Life Example with PAYC 24 comments
February 22^nd 20%/10% Guidelines for Covered Call Writing and Put-Selling: Same Name, Different Circumstances 46 comments
February 15^th Comparing the Cost-to-Close with Initial Trade Goal 27 comments
February 12^th Ask Alan #167 What is “Seeking Alpha?” 4 comments
February 8^th Protective Puts and The Poor Man’s Covered Call 21 comments
February 1^st Comparing ITM Calls and OTM Puts in Bear Markets 34 comments
January 25^th Realized Versus Unrealized Capital Gains: A Real-Life Example with GWRE 29 comments
January 18^th Covered Call Writing Quiz: Evaluating a Series of Trades 17 comments
January 11^th Should I Unwind My Covered Call Trade 1 Week Prior to Contract Expiration?: A Real-Life Example with Alibaba Group 34 comments
January 4^th Rolling Decisions on Expiration Friday: A Real-Life Example with Veeva Systems 22 comments

2019

December 28^th Evaluating Stock Purchase Price and Breakeven When Rolling Out-And-Up 16 comments
December 21^st Is This Trade a Winner or a Loser?: A Real-Life Example with XLE 34 comments
December 14^th Analyzing 4-Day and 2-Month Trades with XBI 20 comments
December 7^th Combining In-The-Money Strikes and Stock Dividends to Provide Protection in Bear Markets + Holiday Discounts 18 comments
November 30^th Timing Our Covered Call Trades: Lost Opportunity to Generate Cash with Facebook + Black Friday Discount through Monday 54 comments
November 23^rd Making Money with Technology Stocks: Investing with QQQ 20 comments
November 16^th In-The-Money Cash-Secured Puts: Allow Exercise or Roll the Option When Using the PCP Strategy? 36 comments
November 9^th Expiration Dates versus Expiration Times: Important Clarifications 15 comments
November 2^nd Selling Deep In-The-Money Calls to Exit Stock Positions 27 comments
October 26^th Implied Volatility and Expected Price Movement of our Stocks During the Life of a Contract 47 comments
October 19^th Delta as the Sole Criteria for Covered Call Writing Strike Selection 30 comments
October 12^th Rolling Up in the Same Contract Month: A Real-Life Example with KMX 10 comments
October 5^th Rolling Deep OTM Puts to a Higher Strike: A Viable Mid-Contract Strategy? 23 comments
September 28^th Why Was My Short Out-Of-The-Money Put Exercised? 37 comments
September 21^st Converting a Covered Call Trade to a Collar Trade: An Analysis Using ALXN 24 comments
September 14^th Stock Selection: Using Secondary Parameters from Our Premium Stock Reports 23 comments
September 7^th Can We Manage Our In-The-Money Strikes to Create a No-Risk Investment Strategy? 15 comments
August 31^st Timing Our Covered Call Trades: The Best Time to Sell Our Options After Buying the Stock 20 comments
August 24^th “Hitting a Double” with XBI: Earn $100 in Four Minutes 18 comments
August 17^th Using the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) for Our Strike Price Selection 40 comments
August 10^th Covered Puts Are NOT Cash-Secured Puts 16 comments
August 3^rd Collar Trades When Call Strikes Move Deep In-The-Money: A Real-Life Example with TEAM 39 comments
July 27^th Blackjack and Covered Call Writing: Throwing the Odds in Our Favor with PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) 46 comments
July 20^th Rolling Out-And-Up: Explaining “Bought-Up” Value 33 comments
July 13^th Interpreting Exit Strategy Calculations Versus Final Calculations 26 comments
July 6^th Covered Call Writing with a Biotech Company: A Real-Life Example with Argenx (NASDAQ: ARGX) 26 comments
June 29^th In-The-Money Covered Calls: Intrinsic Value Protects Time Value: A Real-Life Example with TEAM + New Tool Coming Soon 27 comments
June 22^nd Structuring a Poor Man’s Covered Call Trade with The Coca-Cola Company 28 comments
June 15^th Cash-Secured Call Options 38 comments
June 8^th Let’s Take a Test: Can You Answer Correctly? 13 comments
June 1^st Stock Repair Strategy: Breakeven Versus Loss-Reduction Objectives 36 comments
May 25^th “Hitting a Double” or “Mid-Contract Unwind Exit Strategy”: Which Exit Strategy Did I Just Use? 29 comments
May 18^th Portfolio Overwriting with Weekly Options 30 comments
May 11^th Selling Cash-Secured Puts to Lower Cost basis 20 comments
May 4^th Mean Analyst Ratings (MAR) 24 comments
April 27^th Combining Covered Call Writing and the Stock Repair Strategy 37 comments
April 20^th Using The Ellman Calculator to Monitor “Hitting a Double” Results 31 comments
April 13^th Analyzing a Rolling Down Trade During an Extreme Short-Term Market Decline 28 comments
April 6^th When Should We Execute Our Option-Selling Trades? 21 comments
March 30^th Should We Add a Short Put to Our Collar Trades? 22 comments
March 23^rd Mean Analyst Rating (MAR): A New Addition to Our Premium Reports 18 comments
March 16^th An Annualized Return of 5000% and Feeling Miserable: Interpreting Our Covered Call Trades 42 comments
March 9^th Strike Price Selection When Selling Cash-Secured Puts: A Real-Life Example with WWE 24 comments
March 2^nd VIX Covered Call Writing: Selling Options Against Market Volatility 22 comments
February 23^rd Treasury Bond Yields and the Stock Market 27 comments
February 16^th Trade Management: A Real-Life Example with Brooks Automation, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRKS) 30 comments
February 9^th Volatility Skews: Defined, Explained and Updated 27 comments
February 2^nd Timing Our Covered Call Trades: Joanna’s Tale of “DOH” 23 comments
January 26^th Managing News-Driven Gap-Downs: A Real-Life Example with Stamp.Com 33 comments
January 19^th Converting Non-Dividend Stocks Into Dividend Stocks 14 comments
January 12^th Why Covered Call Writing Outperforms the Overall Market 22 comments
January 5^th “Hitting a Double” Calculations with The Ellman Calculator 10 comments

2018

December 29^th Managing Earnings Reports on Long-Term Holdings 13 comments
December 22^nd What Covered Call Writing Has Meant To Me: A Financial Advisor’s Perspective by Guest Author Kevin Crowe 25 comments
December 15^th Protective Puts and the Collar Strategy: Selecting the Best Strike Prices/ Last Chance for Holiday Orders 10 comments
December 8^th Understanding the “Paid-Up” Risk When Rolling Out-And-Up: A Real-Life Example with FIVE 21 comments
December 1^st “Hitting a Double” Using a Lower Strike Price 27 comments
November 24^th Multi-Leg Option Trades: Understanding Calculations and Results 23 comments
November 17^th Evaluating an Initial Covered Call Writing Portfolio 23 comments
November 10^th Price Charts Tell a Story and Provide Guidance in Formulating Our Investment Strategies 25 comments
November 3^rd After-Hours Bid – Ask Spreads Can Be Deceiving 35 comments
October 27^th Dow 30 Stocks and Covered Call Writing: Implementing the Premium Blue Chip Report 32 comments
October 20^th Increasing Capital Gains When Selling Stock: Another Use for Covered call Writing 25 comments
October 13^th Stock Repair Strategy: Using Stock Options to Reduce Losses When Stock Price Declines 50 comments
October 6^th Covered Call Writing with Only One Security 22 comments
September 29^th Strike Selection for Portfolio Overwriting Low Cost-Basis Stocks 31 comments
September 22^nd Establishing Our Option-Selling Goals: Total Portfolio Versus Individual Stock Perspectives 30 comments
September 15^th Buying Low and Selling High Also Applies to Option-Selling 23 comments
September 8^th Compounding Our Option-Selling Profits To The Highest Levels 24 comments
September 1^st Rolling Out-And-Up And Then Stock Price Declines 26 comments
August 25^th Early Exercise Due to Dividend Capture: Theoretical and Practical Applications 20 comments
August 18^th Factors to Consider When Closing a Trade Early: A Real-Life Example with ATVI 16 comments
August 11^th Position Management in the Final Week of a Contract: A Real-Life Example with FIVE 15 comments
August 4^th Evaluating the Success of our Covered Call Trades 24 comments
July 28^th Understanding the Impact Implied Volatility has on Delta 28 comments
July 21^st Is There Less Risk Using Deep In-The-Money Long Calls versus Covered Call Writing? 33 comments
July 14^th Rolling Down Our Put Positions: When and Why? 25 comments
July 7^th Evaluating a Portfolio from a Numerical Perspective 22 comments
June 30^th American Depository Receipts and Special 1-Time Cash Dividends/ Discount Coupons for New Book & Calculators 20 comments
June 23^rd Generating 2% – 4% in Bull Markets: How to Take Advantage of Out-Of-The-Money Strikes 32 comments
June 16^th Combining Dividend Capture with Covered Call Writing: Pros and Cons 17 comments
June 9^th The Mysteries of a Put Sale 21 comments
June 2^nd Technical Analysis Impacting Stock Eligibility for Option-Selling 21 comments
May 26^th Rolling Out-And-Up: Explaining the “Bought-Up” Value of our Stocks 26 comments
May 19^th In-The-Money Call Strikes: Intrinsic Value Protects Time Value 44 comments
May 12^th The Covered Strangle: Selling Both Call and Put Options while Owning the Underlying Stock 30 comments
May 5^th What Criteria Should We Use to Close our Covered Call Positions Early? 32 comments
April 28^th Should We Close Our Deep-In-The-Money Strike or Allow Assignment? 25 comments
April 21^st Selecting Deep In-The-Money Strikes: A Real-Life Example 48 comments
April 14^th Writing Naked Calls on Poorly-Performing Stocks 37 comments
April 7^th Inverse Exchange-Traded Funds versus Shorting Stocks 19 comments
March 31^st Reasons for Early Exercise 21 comments
March 24^th Special 1-Time Cash Dividends and Strike Prices of American Depository Receipts (ADRs) 31 comments
March 17^th Hitting a Double with News-Related Market Overreactions 36 comments
March 10^th Protecting Unrealized Profits When Share Price Accelerates 25 comments
March 3^rd Stocks Moving On and Off our Premium Stock List: A Technical Perspective 28 comments
February 24^th Stock Splits Can Cause Panic: Relax, All is Well 42 comments
February 17^th Market Volatility and VIX-Based Exchange-Traded Notes 26 comments
February 10^th Seeking the Highest Option Premiums is a Losing Strategy 28 comments
February 3^rd Rolling Option Considerations: A Real-Life Example with BEAT 46 comments
January 27^th Setting Stop Loss Orders for Covered Call Writing 26 comments
January 20^th Shorting a Stock: A Viable Bear-Market Strategy? 33 comments
January 13^th Managing Winning Trades for High Implied Volatility Stocks 29 comments
January 6^th The Collar Strategy from a Delta Perspective 52 comments

2017

December 30^th Volume Versus “Deliverable Volume” Explained and Analyzed 36 comments
December 23^rd Arbitrage: Part II 25 comments
December 16^th Arbitrage: Part I 55 comments
December 9^th Should Ex-Dividend Dates Be Treated the Same as Earnings Report Dates? 36 comments
December 2^nd Price Gaps and the Need for Exit Strategy Execution 42 comments
November 25^th Russell Rebalancing Day: A Cause for Concern? 54 comments
November 18^th Beware of High Premium Returns 68 comments
November 11^th Mitigating Losses After a Disappointing Earnings Pre-Announcement 41 comments
November 4^th Executing Trades Based on Ex-Dividend Dates 23 comments
October 28^th Rolling Out-And-Up in Our Buy-And-Hold Portfolios 51 comments
October 21^st Pros and Cons of Covered Call Writing: Calculation Perspective 69 comments
October 14^th Long-Term Capital Gains Enhanced with Covered Call Writing 27 comments
October 7^th Buying Back Put Options When Share Price Gaps Up: A Real-Life Example with AVGO 56 comments
September 30^th Holding a Stock Through an Earnings Report: A Real-Life Example with AVGO 44 comments
September 23^rd Earnings Reports and Rolling Options 38 comments
September 16^th Selecting the Best Put Strike Based on Overall Market Assessment 33 comments
September 9^th Why Would a Call Buyer Exercise, Rather than Sell, an In-The-Money Call Option? 38 comments
September 2^nd ETF Index Tracker Proposed Strategy: A Risk-Free Investment? 43 comments
August 26^th Naked Options versus Covered Options: Where Should We Take a Stand? 45 comments
August 19^th Why Option Buyers Pay More for In-The-Money Strikes 58 comments
August 12^th Determining the Delta of our Strikes Using the Airport Formula 28 comments
August 5^th When Strikes Move Deep In-The-Money: A Real-Life Trade 58 comments
July 29^th Writing Covered Call Options to Compensate for Share Depreciation 54 comments
July 22^nd Earnings Pre-Announcements Explained and Categorized 84 comments
July 15^th Why the 3% Guideline Applies to Puts but Not to Call Options 89 comments
July 8^th Tax Implications of Writing Covered Calls against Long-Term Holdings 72 comments
July 1^st Special 1-Time Cash Dividends for Stocks with Improving Technicals 49 comments
June 24^th Temporary Self-Loans for the Mid-Contract Unwind Exit Strategy 66 comments
June 17^th Managing Great Stocks After Disappointing Earnings Reports 42 comments
June 10^th Selling LEAPS and Covered Call Writing 28 comments
June 3^rd Using Technical Indicators to Assist with Strike Selection 30 comments
May 27^th Setting Up a Covered Call Trade by First Selling an Out-Of-The-Money Put 30 comments
May 20^th Indexing: A Key Component to Successful Long-Term Investing 23 comments
May 13^th Is Covered Call Writing a Zero Sum Game? Let’s Do the Math 46 comments
May 6^th Should We Favor Put-Selling Over Covered Call Writing? 37 comments
April 29^th Calculations When an Unexpected Earnings Report is about to be Released 39 comments
April 22^nd Covered Calls and Dividends: A Proposed Strategy 41 comments
April 15^th New Broker Rule: The Labor Department’s Fiduciary Rule for Retirement Accounts 21 comments
April 8^th Probability Analysis when Using Covered Call Writing or Selling Cash-Secured Puts 22 comments
April 1^st Mini Options for Equities and Exchange-Traded Funds: A Failing Product 39 comments
March 25^th When Do We Keep a Stock that has Declined in Value? 24 comments
March 18^th What is the Best Time to Execute Our Trades? 41 comments
March 11^th Put-Selling in Margin Accounts 50 comments
March 4^th Establishing a Blue Chip Covered Call Portfolio 14 comments
February 25^th Short-Term Trades with High Returns: Evaluating a Real-Life Example 25 comments
February 18^th Selling In-The-Money Puts to Generate Higher Premiums: Evaluating a Real-Life Trade 37 comments
February 11^th Avoiding Earnings Reports: Two Common Sense Perspectives 25 comments
February 4^th Exit Strategy Selectivity: Can We Implement Too Many Exit Strategies? 19 comments
January 28^th 20%/10% Guidelines: Calculating Cost Basis and Option Premium After Rolling Out And Up 24 comments
January 21^st Technical Analysis Indicators for Long and Short-Term Portfolios 28 comments
January 14^th Over-Trading Our Option Positions: Good for Brokers, Not Good For Us 22 comments
January 7^th Evaluating the Performance of our Mutual Funds and Financial Advisors 22 comments

2016

December 31^st Rolling Out-and-Up After Understanding the Math 36 comments
December 23^rd Reverse Splits and Unreliable Options Chains 17 comments
December 17^th Executing Exit Strategies in a Timely Manner 23 comments
December 10^th Comparing Covered Call Writing and Selling Cash-Secured Puts 22 comments
December 3^rd Cost To Close Our Short Option Positions: Calls and Puts 37 comments
November 26^th Earnings Pre-Announcements: Overview and Practical Application 37 comments
November 19^th Using Multiple Premium Reports to Fund our Covered Call Writing and Put-Selling Portfolios 22 comments
November 12^th Expiration Friday Exit Strategy Decisions For In-The-Money Strikes 25 comments
November 5^th Psychology of Stock and Option Investing: Ten Years of Observations 19 comments
October 29^th How To Generate Cash With Elite Stocks: Three Perspectives 20 comments
October 22^nd Leveraged ETFs and Margin Accounts for High-Risk Traders Only 26 comments
October 15^th Locating Stocks During the Heart of Earnings Season 22 comments
October 8^th Will My Broker Automatically Exercise Options That Expire In-The-Money? 17 comments
October 1^st Poor Man’s Covered Call: Practical Application 46 comments
September 24^th Exercise Of Options From The Call Buyer’s Perspective 21 comments
September 17^th Using Delta to Determine the Amount of Risk in Our Option-Selling Positions 22 comments
September 10^th Calculation Rules: Making Sense Of A Trade That Makes No Sense 17 comments
September 3^rd Employee Stock Options Compared to Listed Options 23 comments
August 27^th Open Interest: How it’s Calculated and Why it’s Important 20 comments
August 20^th Generating Income on Stocks Already Owned 35 comments
August 13^th Rolling Options Using the Ellman Calculator 31 comments
August 6^th Protective Puts and Earnings Reports 17 comments
July 30^th Setting the 20%/10% Guidelines After Rolling out-And-Up 22 comments
July 23^rd GAAP versus Non-GAAP Earnings: Challenges of Fundamental Analysis 26 comments
July 16^th Why and When We are NOT Losing Money If We Buy Back an Option for More Money than We Received 27 comments
July 9^th The Relationship Between Delta and the Time Value of our Options 26 comments
July 2^nd Rolling Up When Selling Puts To Buy A Stock At A Discount 38 comments
June 25^th Why We Should Avoid ATM and ITM Put Strikes in Bear Markets + A Discussion of Brexit 26 comments
June 18^th Naked Call Sellers VS. Covered Call Writers: Different Perspectives 23 comments
June 11^th Exchange-Traded Fund Option-Selling in Bear Markets 34 comments
June 4^th Protective Puts: Selecting the Best Strike Price 19 comments
May 28^th Gamma: The Delta of Delta Impacting Exit Strategy Opportunities 9 comments
May 21^st Jim Cramer’s Stocks and Covered Call Writing 35 comments
May 14^th Portfolio Overwriting: Should We Sell 1-Month or 2-Month Expirations? 24 comments
May 7^th When is it Appropriate to Use Covered Call Writing? A New Perspective 21 comments
April 30^th Defensive Call and Put Positions in Bear and Volatile Markets 24 comments
April 23^rd Delta Defined from Three Perspectives 25 comments
April 16^th Comparing Similar Covered Call Writing and Put-Selling Positions 32 comments
April 9^th Greeks Spreadsheet Showing the Impact of Time to Expiration, Volatility and Stock Price Change on Option Value 24 comments
April 2^nd How Bankruptcy Impacts Call and Put Options 28 comments
March 26^th Comparing Implied Volatility and Historical Volatility During Earnings Season 18 comments
March 19^th Creating Multiple Income Streams in the Same Month when Selling Puts 21 comments
March 12^th Delta and Theta and their Impact on our Covered Call and Put-Selling Positions 33 comments
March 5^th Rolling Up in the Same Contract Month: Comparing Before and After Scenarios 28 comments
February 27^th How to Select Replacement Stocks Mid-Contract 25 comments
February 20^th The CBOE S&P 500 PutWrite Index (PUT): An Explanation and Evaluation of Lessons Learned 21 comments
February 13^th Gold ETFs and Implied Volatility in Bear Markets 22 comments
February 6^th What Do Bernie Madoff and Covered Call Writing Have In Common? 24 comments
January 30^th Delta and Declining Stocks: Comparing Covered Call Writing and Put-Selling 26 comments
January 23^rd Covered Call Writing and Inverse ETFs: Generating Cash in Extreme Bear Markets 33 comments
January 16^th Using Out-Of-The-Money Puts and In-The-Money Calls to Manage Bear Markets 23 comments
January 9^th Spin-offs and How they Impact Option Chains and Calculations 27 comments
January 2^nd How to Use Weeklys and the Premium Stock Reports for Covered Call Writing During Earnings Season 17 comments

2015

December 30^th 2016 New Year’s Greeting & Resolutions from The Blue Collar Investor 1 comment
December 26^th Why Would Call Option Value Decline If Stock Price Rises? Evaluating Option Greeks 17 comments
December 19^th Using a Zero-Dollar Collar to Protect Low Cost Basis Stocks 17 comments
December 12^th What is Beta-Weighting? 16 comments
December 5^th Can We Use Deep-In-The-Money Puts to Buy a Stock at a Discount? 28 comments
November 28^th Moneyness of Options: Why Call and Put Premiums for the Same Stock, Strike and Expiration can be so Different/ CONTEST DEADLINE IS NOVEMBER 30th 20 comments
November 21^st Rolling Down with CALM: Turning Losses into Gains 25 comments
November 14^th Mechanics of LEAPS 22 comments
November 7^th A Review of Volatility and its Impact on Option-Selling 20 comments
October 31^st LEAPS and Covered Call Writing: A Review and a Hypothetical Example/ Contest Application 25 comments
October 24^th Using Volatility to Predict Future Stock Prices 41 comments
October 17^th Mergers and Acquisitions: Part II- Stock and Cash Mergers 22 comments
October 14^th Protected: Ask Alan #115- “Differences between Call and Put Premiums Enter your password to view comments.
October 10^th Mergers and Acquisitions: Part I- All Cash Mergers 16 comments
October 3^rd Myths and Misconceptions about Covered Call Writing 19 comments
September 26^th Calculating the Greeks Using an Options Calculator 25 comments
September 19^th Put-Call Parity and Synthetic Trades: Understanding Option Pricing 24 comments
September 12^th How To Use Weekly Options To Avoid Earnings Reports 26 comments
September 5^th Using Puts and SelectSector SPDRs to Create an Ultra-Conservative Option-Selling Strategy 26 comments
August 29^th VIX Volatility Options: A Place In Our Covered Call Writing Portfolio? 32 comments
August 22^nd Percentage Of Options Expiring Worthless: Debunking A Myth 17 comments
August 21^st Emergency Management Report: Dealing with Volatile and Bearish Markets:Re-Publication 2 comments
August 15^th Short Interest Explained 26 comments
August 8^th Selling Cash-Secured Puts On An Index 8 comments
August 1^st Rolling Out Decisions: Evaluating a Real Life Trade 18 comments
July 25^th Rolling Up in the Same Contract Month: Evaluating a Real-Life Trade 20 comments
July 18^th Ex-Dividend Dates: Rules for Standard and Special Dividends 28 comments
July 11^th How to Generate 10% Per Year in Bear Markets by Selling Stock Options 24 comments
July 4^th Premium Stock Reports: Final Selections for Our Option-Selling Portfolios 29 comments
June 27^th Short Selling and Covered Call Writing 16 comments
June 20^th How To Negotiate Better Option Prices Using The “Show Or Fill Rule” / $30 Rebate Expiring 33 comments
June 13^th ASHR: Exchange-Traded Fund in the Spotlight 24 comments
June 6^th Why Are Call Premiums Larger Than Put premiums For Near-The-Money Strikes? 12 comments
May 30^th How To Use Puts To Buy A Stock That Has Gapped Up 15 comments
May 23^rd Option Liquidity: When Is Vol(ume) Greater Than Open Interest? 21 comments
May 16^th Why do Call Buyers Exercise Early Prior to the Ex-Dividend Date? 30 comments
May 9^th Covered Call Writing And Dividend Capture: Evaluating A Proposed Strategy 13 comments
May 2^nd Delta And The Moneyness of Options 15 comments
April 25^th Implied Volatility of ETFs and our Covered Call Writing and Put-Selling Decisions 16 comments
April 18^th What Are Wash Sales And Wash Trading? Are They The Same? 18 comments
April 11^th Using Fundamental Analysis To Screen For Option-Selling Stocks 23 comments
April 4^th Selling Cash-Secured Puts Instead Of Placing Limit Orders 20 comments
March 28^th Evaluating Returns When Rolling Out And Up 23 comments
March 21^st Capital Gains (Losses) For Selling Cash-Secured Puts In Non-Sheltered Accounts 17 comments
March 14^th Capital Gains (Losses) For Covered Call Writing In Non-Sheltered Accounts 28 comments
March 7^th Airline Stocks Now “Banned” From Covered Call Writing And Put-Selling Strategies 22 comments
February 28^th How To Use Implied Volatility In Our Covered Call Writing Decisions 38 comments
February 21^st Using Beta To Capture Higher Premium Returns 29 comments
February 14^th Economic Reports And Our Covered Call Writing Decisions 33 comments
February 7^th How Much Did That Stock Cost Us?/ How Much Did We Receive When We Sold It?/When Options Are Exercised 20 comments
January 31^st Implied Volatility: More Important Than Historical Volatility To Covered Call Writers And Put-Sellers 16 comments
January 24^th When Do We Sell Our Covered Call Writing Stocks? 23 comments
January 17^th Exchange-Traded Funds: Funding Option-Selling Portfolios With ETFs 30 comments
January 10^th Generating Profit When Share Price Declines 10% In Two Months 23 comments
January 3^rd What Is Portfolio Margining? 27 comments
January 1^st Alan’s 2015 New Year’s Greeting & Resolutions 2 comments

2014

December 27^th Option Prices: The Role Of Interest Rates And Dividends 12 comments
December 20^th Covered Combinations: Merging Covered Call Writing and Put-Selling into One Strategy 14 comments
December 13^th Using Put-Selling To Enter A Covered Call Trade At A Discount 27 comments
December 6^th Comparing Covered Call Writing And Put Selling In Bear Markets 11 comments
November 29^th Comparing Covered Call Writing And Put Selling In Bull Markets 30 comments
November 22^nd Covered Call Writing With Protective Puts: A Proposed Strategy 18 comments
November 15^th RHO: Why Interest Rates Effect Our Option Premiums 13 comments
November 8^th Implied Volatility: General Market Conditions That Make Option Values Move Up Or Down 13 comments
November 1^st Closing Our Entire Covered Call Position When Share Price Rises: The Mid-Contract Unwind Exit Strategy 21 comments
October 29^th What I wish for you 5 comments
October 25^th Evaluating Brokerages And Comparing Their Commissions 17 comments
October 18^th Emergency Management Report: Dealing with Volatile and Bearish Markets 17 comments
October 11^th Options Clearing Corporation: Guaranteeing Our Options Trades 7 comments
October 4^th “Moneyness” Of Call And Put Options: Understanding Strike Prices 2 comments
September 27^th Should I Enter My Trades On Expiration Friday Or The Following Monday? 18 comments
September 20^th Why Covered Call ETFs Under-Perform 14 comments
September 13^th Index Options And Exchange-Traded Funds Options: A Comparison 7 comments
September 6^th How To Maximize Covered Call Writing Returns By Understanding Time Value and Theta 6 comments
August 30^th How To Avoid Early Exercise When Dividends Are About To Be Distributed 11 comments
August 23^rd Expanded Weekly Options: When Should We Enter A Trade? 30 comments
August 16^th Rolling Down And Stock Splits: A Real Life Example 35 comments
August 9^th Calculating Future Returns Using Delta 15 comments
August 2^nd Covered Puts Versus Covered Calls 20 comments
July 26^th ETF Option Trading vs. Index Option Trading 14 comments
July 18^th Writing Covered Calls On Broad Market Exchange-Traded Funds 17 comments
July 12^th Calculating 2-Month Returns When Rolling Out And Up 11 comments
July 5^th Weekly Stock Options For Covered Call Writing: Pros And Cons 14 comments
July 4^th Happy Independence Day! 1 comment
June 28^th Ellman Calculator: Enhancements Made In The 2014 Version 13 comments
June 21^st Am I Losing Money When Option Value Increases After Entering A Covered Call Position? 23 comments
June 13^th Closing A Covered Call Writing Position Mid-Contract: A Real Life Example 21 comments
June 7^th Combining Technical Analysis And Market Assessment To Determine Strike Selection 15 comments
May 31^st Simple Interest And Compound Interest 6 comments
May 24^th Deep In-The-Money Strikes: A Can’t Lose Strategy? 20 comments
May 17^th Covered Call Writing When There Is Overall Market Concern 19 comments
May 10^th Covered Call Writing With A Twist: Selling 2 Calls Per 100 Shares 9 comments
May 3^rd LEAPS As Stock Surrogates And Covered Call Writing 14 comments
April 26^th Vega: An Option Greek And How It Impacts Our Option Pemiums 15 comments
April 19^th Buy A Stock And Wait Before Selling The Option: Is This A Good Strategy? 9 comments
April 12^th The Role Of VIX and Market Volatility In Our Covered Call Writing Decisions 11 comments
April 5^th Calculating Protective Puts: The Collar Strategy 7 comments
March 29^th Exit Strategy Calculations vs. Final Calculations 11 comments
March 22^nd Option Premiums: How Intrinsic Value Protects Time Value 8 comments
March 15^th Early Exercise: I Don’t Want To Sell My AAPL Shares 10 comments
March 8^th Managing Covered Call Trades While Working A Full-Time Job 17 comments
March 1^st Achieving The Highest Covered Call Writing Returns Using The Blackjack Analogy 18 comments
February 22^nd Mini Options: The Impact Of Commissions And Liquidity On Final Returns 11 comments
February 15^th Selecting A Specific Strike Price For Our Covered Call Positions 9 comments
February 8^th Real Life Covered Call Trade With PRLB 9 comments
February 1^st Implied Volatility And Our Premium Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF) Report 6 comments
January 25^th Rolling Out And Up To Capture Share Appreciation: A Good Idea? 7 comments
January 18^th Earnings Reports And Covered Call Writing In Our BCI Methodology 7 comments
January 11^th When Strike Prices Disappear: Contract Adjustments 5 comments
January 4^th Rolling Weekly Options & Covered Call Writing 11 comments
January 1^st Alan’s 2014 New Year’s Greeting & Resolutions 4 comments

2013

December 28^th Weekly Options: Standard And Expanded Expirations 10 comments
December 21^st Technical Analysis and Covered Call Decisions: Looking Back At KORS 11 comments
December 14^th Covered Call Writing And Contract Adjustments + Our Premium Report Is Getting Even Better 7 comments
December 7^th Using Covered Call Writing To Increase The Returns From A Buy And Hold Portfolio: Part II 7 comments
November 30^th Using Covered Call Writing To Increase The Returns From A Buy And Hold Portfolio: Part I 10 comments
November 23^rd Covered Call Writing: 1-Month vs. 2-Month Expiration Dates 15 comments
November 16^th MACD Histogram: A Lagging and Momentum Technical Indicator: Part II 11 comments
November 9^th “Negotiating” The Best Prices When Buying And Selling Options 6 comments
November 2^nd The Mechanics Of Leveraged Exchange-Traded Funds: Appropriate For Covered Call Writers? 3 comments
October 26^th Stock Investing For Students: The Book I’ve Always Wanted To Write 10 comments
October 19^th MACD: A Lagging and Momentum Technical Indicator: Part I 8 comments
October 12^th Using Cash-Secured Puts To Enter Covered Call Positions 13 comments
October 5^th Covered Call Writing, Leveraged ETFs, Weekly Options and Protective Puts 8 comments
September 28^th After Hours (AHT)and Pre-Market Trading: Is It Right for Average Retail Investors? 5 comments
September 21^st Selling Deep Out Of The Money Covered Call Options 12 comments
September 20^th A look back at the FIRST Ask Alan Video… Leave a comment
September 14^th Profit And Loss Graphs For Covered Call Writing 11 comments
September 7^th When And Why Will My In-The-Money Strike Be Exercised? 9 comments
August 31^st Covered Call Writing: Setting Up A Stop Loss Order 9 comments
August 24^th Executing A Covered Call Trade: A Step By Step Look At Our Broker Statement 7 comments
August 17^th Why Has Covered Call Writing Become So Popular? Ask The Baby Boomers! 12 comments
August 10^th A Review Of Fundamental Analysis for Covered Call Writing 6 comments
July 27^th Unusual Options Activity: Speculation or Cheating? 6 comments
July 20^th Why Use Technical Analysis: An Example Of A Complete Technical Breakdown 14 comments
July 13^th Option Approval Levels For Our Brokerage Accounts 7 comments
July 6^th Analyzing The Time Value Of In-The-Money Strikes 5 comments
June 29^th Stock Exchanges: The New Way To Calculate Trading Volume 7 comments
June 22^nd The CBOE BuyWrite Index (BXM) vs. The BCI System 6 comments
June 15^th Special 1- Time Cash Dividends and Our Covered Call Positions 9 comments
June 8^th Setting Up A Technical Chart + An Example Of An Ideal Chart 14 comments
June 1^st Examining A Covered Call Trade 11 comments
May 25^th Stock Option Expiration Cycles: Beware Of Expiration Dates 4 comments
May 18^th Should I Roll My Option When The Stock Price Is DEEP In-The-Money? 17 comments
May 11^th Binary Options Are The Latest Rage, But Barely Like Traditional Options by Guest Author Tom Cleveland 3 comments
May 4^th Using LEAPS Covered Calls to Increase Dividend Yield 8 comments
April 27^th LEAPS And Covered Call Writing 4 comments
April 20^th Covered Call Writing In India 11 comments
April 13^th Covered Call Writing: Generating Additional Income When A Stock Price Gaps Up 7 comments
April 6^th How Quarterly Dividends Impact Our Covered Call Option Premiums 8 comments
March 30^th Covered Call Writing: The Case For 1-Month Options 8 comments
March 23^rd Covered Call Writing – Fundamental and Technical Analysis: Earnings and Price Strength Analysis 9 comments
March 16^th Sample Covered Call Portfolio Using The Current Premium Watch List 17 comments
March 9^th Setting Up Your Covered Call Portfolio Using The Ellman Calculator 9 comments
March 2^nd Mini Options- A New Product For Retail Investors 6 comments
February 23^rd Exchange-Traded Funds: How They Operate: The Pros And The Cons 7 comments
February 16^th The 10 Most Common Mistakes Made By Covered Call Writers And How To Avoid Them 11 comments
February 7^th Margin Accounts and Covered Call Writing 8 comments
February 2^nd Inverse Exchange-Traded Funds and Covered Call Writing 13 comments
January 26^th Put-Call Parity: Understanding Option Pricing 8 comments
January 19^th Complex and Leveraged Exchange-Traded Funds 12 comments
January 12^th Early Exercise and Assignment of Options 10 comments
January 7^th Just Alan – Behind The Scenes Preview of AAII Event 2 comments
January 5^th Why Some In-The-Money Strikes Are NOT Exercised; A Real Life Example 8 comments

2012

December 29^th What Is Slippage And How Does It Impact Our Trading Success? 12 comments
December 22^nd How Will the Dividend Tax Increase Affect Covered Call Writers? By Guest Author Laurie Itkin 7 comments
December 15^th Technical Analysis: Bar Charts vs. Candlestick Charts 4 comments
December 8^th Portfolio Overwriting- Selling Covered Calls on Stocks You Want to Keep. 12 comments
December 1^st Covered Call Writing and Exchange-Traded Funds 9 comments
November 24^th S&P Futures and Fair Value. 4 comments
November 17^th Executing Covered Call Trades: The Buy-Write Combination Form. 6 comments
November 10^th Factors that Influence Option Value + The Black-Scholes Model 5 comments
November 3^rd Exiting a Covered Call Position Prior to Earnings by Guest Author Laurie Itkin 6 comments
October 27^th Protective Puts: Using The Collar Strategy During Volatile Markets 10 comments
October 20^th Volatility Skew- Understanding Option Premiums Over Different Time Frames and Strikes 13 comments
October 13^th Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT)- How Financial Advisors Invest Your Money 12 comments
October 6^th Mastering Covered Call Writing: Learning From Your Mistakes by guest author Laurie Itkin 9 comments
September 29^th “Hitting a Double”- A Bullish Early-Contract Exit Strategy 10 comments
September 22^nd Delta and Our Covered Call Writing Decisions 10 comments
September 15^th Compounding our Covered Call Writing Profits 13 comments
September 12^th Ask Alan – Early Exercise of Covered Call Options 2 comments
September 8^th “Pinning the Strike”: A Covered Call Writing Consideration 16 comments
September 5^th Ask Alan – Finalizing Our Covered Call Watch List and Stock Selection 1 comment
September 1^st Put Selling and Covered Call Writing 23 comments
August 29^th Ask Alan – Low Open Interest & Large Bid Ask Spread 7 comments
August 25^th Support and Resistance: Technical Analysis for Covered Call Writing 12 comments
August 22^nd Ask Alan – Delta and Covered Call Writing Leave a comment
August 19^th Ask Alan – Calculating the Target Price of a Stock Leave a comment
August 18^th Selecting The Best Strike Price 22 comments
August 15^th Ask Alan – When to Enter Your Covered Call Trades 2 comments
August 11^th In-The-Money Strikes and Covered Call Writing 16 comments
August 8^th Ask Alan – Strike Selection and Covered Call Writing 2 comments
August 5^th Ask Alan – When You Close Your Covered Call Position Prior to Expiration Friday 2 comments
August 4^th Moving Averages And Our Covered Call Selections 17 comments
August 1^st Ask Alan – IBD 7% / 8% Rule or BCI 20% / 10% Guideline 4 comments
July 28^th Covered Call Writing: The Elite Calculator and the Schedule D 17 comments
July 21^st Covered Call Writing: Should We Use Stop Loss Orders? 17 comments
July 14^th Implied Volatility and Our Covered Call Writing Premiums 18 comments
July 7^th Greeks: Factors that Influence our Covered Call Premiums 23 comments
June 30^th How Our Trade Orders Are Executed For Covered Call Writing 17 comments
June 18^th Out-Of-The-Money Strike Prices: Pros and Cons for Covered Call Writing 17 comments
June 16^th Covered Call Writing Exchange-Traded Funds 22 comments
June 9^th Open Interest and Volume plus Non-Standard Options 19 comments
June 2^nd Facebook and the Greenshoe Option 19 comments
May 26^th Playing the Bid-Ask Spread When Selling Covered Call Options 19 comments
May 19^th Analyzing a Covered Call Trade by Barry Bergman, Director of Research, The Blue Collar Investor Corp. 26 comments
May 12^th Covered Call Writing Premiums: Intrinsic Value + Time Value 23 comments
May 5^th Entering Our Covered Call Positions Mid-Contract 27 comments
April 28^th Covered Call Writing and the Blue Collar Premium Report 29 comments
April 21^st Covered Call Writing and Stock Option Expiration Cycles 40 comments
April 14^th Beta: Another Tool to Enhance our Covered Call Returns 18 comments
April 7^th Covered Call Writing and The Yield Curve 18 comments
March 31^st Covered Call Writing and The CBOE’s Volatility Index (VIX) 47 comments
March 24^th Covered Call Writing: Types of Customer Orders 26 comments
March 17^th Using Multiple Exit Strategies in the Same Contract Month 32 comments
March 10^th Covered Call Writing- Using the Multiple Tab of the Ellman Calculator 31 comments
March 3^rd Technical Analysis: How to Use Volume in our Covered Call Decisions 27 comments
February 25^th Mid-Contract Unwind Exit Strategy: A Real Life Example 48 comments
February 18^th Covered Call Writing: Stock Options with Additional Expiration Months 42 comments
February 11^th Covered Call Writing Using The Blue Collar Methodology 51 comments
February 4^th Portfolio Management- Organized Lists To Improve Our Option Profits For Covered Call Writing 38 comments
January 28^th Covered Call Writing: Factors That Affect The Value Of Our Option Premiums 30 comments
January 21^st Covered Call Writing: Mid-Contract Unwind Exit Strategy 41 comments
January 14^th Covered Call Writing and Holding a Stock Through an Earnings Report 33 comments
January 13^th [BCI Podcast] Beginners Corner Lesson 2: Option Basics 1 comment
January 7^th The Stochastic Oscillator- A Momentum Technical Indicator 44 comments

2011

December 31^st Strike Price Selection- A Critical Covered Call Decision 21 comments
December 24^th Covered Call Writing: Managing Stocks That Have Gapped Down 21 comments
December 17^th Constructing Your Covered Call Portfolio During Earnings Season 37 comments
December 10^th Setting Up a Covered Call Portfolio-Diversification and Cash Allocation 31 comments
December 3^rd Constructing a Covered Call Portfolio Using Select Sector SPDRS 31 comments
November 26^th The Case for 1-Month Options 35 comments
November 19^th Pump and Dump Scams 24 comments
November 12^th Rolling Strategies On Or Near Expiration Friday 26 comments
November 5^th What is “Left Tail Risk” and How is it Impacting our Stock Portfolios? 51 comments
October 29^th Investor Psychology and the Need for Structured Plans 25 comments
October 22^nd Dollar-Cost Averaging- An Investment Technique for You? 41 comments
October 15^th Stock Splits and their Impact on our Option Contracts 30 comments
October 8^th Penny Stocks: I’ll Have the Salad 28 comments
October 1^st How to Read an Option Chain 54 comments
July 30^th Margin Accounts and Covered Call Writing 30 comments
July 23^rd Setting Up Your Portfolio Using the Ellman Calculator and the Premium Report 33 comments
July 16^th LEAPS and Covered Call Writing 43 comments
July 9^th The Case for 1-Month Options 34 comments
July 2^nd Common Stock vs. Preferred Stock 37 comments
June 25^th Fundamental Ratios: P/E, PEG and PEGY 30 comments
June 4^th Flash Trading- The Pros and the Cons 42 comments
May 21^st What is Our Edge? Plus Stock Chart of the Week 33 comments
March 5^th Bernie Madoff Revisited 44 comments
January 30^th Short Selling: Positives and Negatives 70 comments
January 15^th The New Stock Market- Algorithmic and High Speed Trading 95 comments
January 1^st The Risk-Reward Profile for Covered Call Writing 55 comments

2010

December 18^th The Out-Of-The-Money Strike- Pros and Cons 37 comments
December 11^th Tax Information by Guest Author Owen Sargent, CPA 47 comments
October 29^th Penny Pilot Program 64 comments
October 23^rd Protective Puts- The Collar Strategy 60 comments
September 26^th Options That Expire Weekly and Conventional Expiration Cycles 92 comments
September 19^th Types of Customer Orders plus Update on BCSI 61 comments
September 11^th The CBOEs Volatility Index (VIX) 68 comments
September 4^th Volume- A Critical Technical Analysis Indicator 27 comments
August 22^nd Factors that Determine the Value of your Option Premium 32 comments
August 14^th Portfolio Management- Organized Lists Will Improve Our Option Profits 31 comments
June 13^th Triple Witching Friday- Coming to YOUR Portfolio on June 18th! 21 comments
June 6^th Theta-Time Decay of our Option Premiums 29 comments
January 10^th The Show or Fill Rule- More Cash for Us! plus a Spreadsheet for I-T-M Strikes 49 comments
January 3^rd Non-Standard Options- What they are and why we should avoid them 48 comments

2009

December 6^th Derivatives- Stock Options and More 24 comments
November 21^st Money Market Accounts and Money Market Funds- Where is Your Money Going? plus Industry in the Spotlight 25 comments
September 5^th Interest Rates and our Stock Market Investments 16 comments
August 22^nd Types of Customer Orders plus Industry in the Spotlight 16 comments
August 8^th Technical Market Theories:More Tools for the Technical Analyst plus Industry in the Spotlight 15 comments
July 18^th Using Leading Economic Indicators in our Covered Call Decisions 28 comments
July 5^th Using Covered Call Options to Increase the Value of Your Stock 11 comments
June 28^th Beware of Leveraged ETFs; The Changing Face of Exchange-Traded Funds 13 comments
May 24^th Dark Pool Liquidity- Secrets of the Institutional Investors 20 comments
April 4^th Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Covered Call Writing 23 comments
March 29^th Reverse Stock Splits and How they Effect our Option Contracts 19 comments
March 22^nd Tax Treatment of Covered Call Writing in Non-Sheltered Accounts 13 comments
February 22^nd The Blue Collar Stock Market Meets the S&P 500 11 comments
February 15^th Triple Witching Friday- Coming to YOUR Portfolio on March 20th! plus Industry in the Spotlight 13 comments
January 18^th The Option Buyer or the Option Seller: Which should you be? 18 comments
January 11^th Stop Loss Orders- Should We Use Them When Selling Covered Calls? 11 comments
January 4^th The Basics of the Call Option plus a Current Real Life Example 9 comments

2008

December 21^st The Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme: A Validation of our Blue Collar Philosophy plus Tony C. checks in on Cramer 5 comments
December 7^th The New York Stock Exchange: Part of a Global Conglomerate and a Stock to Watch 5 comments
November 23^rd RECESSION- A NORMAL Part of the Business Cycle 15 comments
November 1^st MACROECONOMICS-The Government’s Influence Over our Investment Success 5 comments
October 26^th BLUE COLLAR INVESTOR Q&A- Your Questions Answered 6 comments
October 19^th MUTUAL FUNDS – The Answer in these Volatile Times? 6 comments
October 12^th A RIDICULOUS SUBPRIME FAIRYTALE plus Tony C. Checks Out Cramer 6 comments
October 5^th Commingling of Asset Classes plus History Tells Us Not To Worry 4 comments
September 29^th THE MYSTERY OF CORPORATE BONDS 4 comments
September 14^th HEDGE FUNDS AND THEIR EFFECT ON OUR INVESTMENTS Plus CSH, a Gem in Hiding 5 comments
August 17^th Overnight Millionaire or Victim of the Rig? Plus: My Readers Pick their Favorite Stocks 8 comments
August 10^th WHEN TO BUY BACK YOUR OPTION – EXPIRATION FRIDAY DILEMMA plus Industry in the Spotlight 7 comments
July 27^th EARNINGS REPORTS ARE TELLING US TO BUY STOCKS! 6 comments
July 20^th THE FACTORS THAT DETERMINE THE VALUE OF YOUR OPTION PREMIUM plus Our Readers Pick their Favorite Stocks 19 comments
June 26^th BEING CEO OF YOUR OWN MONEY MEANS MAKING INFORMED DECISIONS plus Industry in the Spotlight 12 comments
May 17^th USING STOCK OPTIONS TO NEUTRALIZE NEGATIVE CASH FLOW PROPERTIES/ PART III- Evaluating our Investment 5 comments
April 29^th USING STOCK OPTIONS TO NEUTRALIZE NEGATIVE CASH FLOW PROPERTIES / PART II – Real Life Example 16 comments
April 12^th USING STOCK OPTIONS TO NEUTRALIZE NEGATIVE CASH FLOW PROPERTIES 10 comments
March 9^th RECESSION AND STAGFLATION- How do we respond? 3 comments
January 28^th DEALING WITH VOLATILE MARKETS-The Media Experts vs. The Blue Collar Investor 10 comments
January 10^th HOW A BLUE COLLAR INVESTOR MANAGES A VOLITILE MARKET 3 comments

2007

December 26^th BEWARE OF WINDOW DRESSING! Leave a comment
December 14^th Locating SAFE STOCKS in a VOLATILE MARKET 1 comment