Opening (IRA): TAN August 16th 39 Covered Call... for a 37.86 debit.
Comments: High IVR/IV at 55.1/41. Selling the -75 call against stock to emulate the delta metrics of a 25 delta short put, but with the built-in defense of the short call.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Break Even: 37.86
Max Profit: 1.14
ROC at Max: 3.01%
50% Max: .57
ROC at 50% Max: 1.50%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max.
Moniedcoveredcall
Opening (IRA): KRE Sept 20th 42 Covered Call... for a 40.73 debit.
Comments: Adding to my KRE (IVR/IV 50.4/28.6) position with a setup out in the September monthly that has a break even better than what I currently have on. Selling the -75 delta call against a one lot to emulate the delta metrics of a 25 delta short put with the built-in defense of the short call.
Additionally, attempting to grab a little more June divvy if I can, with ex-dividend not having been declared yet.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Break Even: 40.73
Max Profit: 1.27 ($127)
ROC at Max: 3.12%
50% Max: .64
ROC at 50% Max: 1.56%
Opening (IRA): KRE August 19th 44 Monied Covered Call... for a 42.98 debit.
Comments: Hitting a little KRE (IVR/IV 42/28) on weakness here, looking primarily to grab the June dividend (March distribution: .38; 3.19% annualized). Selling the -75 call against a one lot to emulate the delta metrics of a 25 delta short put with the built-in defense of the short call.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Break Even: 42.98
Max Profit: 1.02 ($102) ex. dividend
ROC at Max: 2.37%
50% Max: .51 ($51) ex. dividend
ROC at 50% Max: 1.19%
Will primarily look to take profit at 50% max, roll out the short call on test ... .
Opening (IRA): SLV July 26th 25 Monied Covered Call... for a 24.26 debit.
Comments: High IV here at 36.4%. Using the July 26th weekly here for the setup, since this is one of those options highly liquid underlyings with both liquid monthlies and weeklies, and I like to attempt to keep things in that 45 DTE wheelhouse if I can.
Because of the size of this underlying, I'm looking to ladder out if we get continued weakness, but am fine with taking my Happy Meal profits and move on if that happens.
Here, I like the metrics of the monied covered call relative to a similarly delta'd short put, so sold a -75 delta call against a one lot to emulate a 25 delta short put's metrics, but have the built-in defense of the short call.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Break Even: 24.26
Max Profit: .74 ($74)
ROC at Max: 3.05%
50% Max: .37 ($37)
ROC at 50% Max: 1.53%
Opened (IRA): SPY August 16th 493 Monied Covered Call... for a 485.25 debit.
Comments: (Late Post). Sold the -75 call against a one lot to emulate the delta metrics of a 25 delta short put, but with built-in short call defense.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Break Even: 485.25
Max Profit: 7.75 ($775)
ROC at Max: 1.60%
ROC at 50% Max: .80%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max on the entire setup (stock + short call) as a unit, but won't hesitate to roll out the short call if in profit to keep my break even at or near where the underlying is currently trading or to maintain delta metrics.
This is kind of my new favorite setup in the IRA versus short put, particularly in underlyings where the put side is skewed closer to at-the-money than call and where there is heightened IV on the call side.
As previously noted, this only makes sense in a cash secured environment, since you get little buying power relief going with short put over this setup. On margin, the general answer pretty much always is "go with the short put" since that is more buying power efficient than being in stock or in covered call.
Opened (IRA): QQQ August 16th 420 Monied Covered Call... for a 411.80 debit.
Comments: (Late Post). Sold the -75 call against a one lot to emulate the delta metrics of a 25 delta short put, but with built-in short call defense.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Break Even: 411.80
Max Profit: 8.20 ($820)
ROC at Max: 1.99%
ROC at 50% Max: 1.00%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max on the entire setup (stock + short call) as a unit, but won't hesitate to roll out the short call if in profit to keep my break even at or near where the underlying is currently trading.
Opening (IRA): USO July 19th 67 Monied Covered Call... for a 65.60 debit.
Comments: Selling the -75 call against shares to emulate the delta metrics of a 25 delta short put, but with built-in short call defense and to take advantage of slightly elevated IV on the call side relative to the put. Would like 30-day IV to be higher here, but can't have everything (it's at 31.2%).
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Break Even: 65.60
Max Profit: 1.40 ($140)
ROC at Max: 2.13%/16.90% annualized
ROC at 50% Max: 1.07%/8.45% annualized
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max ... .
Opening (IRA): TQQQ July 19th 58 Monied Covered Call... for a 55.95 debit.
Comments: Going monied here, selling the -75 call against stock to emulate a 25 delta short put metrics while having built-in intraexpiry defense via the short call. More patient people will probably wait for weakness ... .
I'll generally look to roll out the short call on test or at 50% max/take profit on the entire setup as a unit at 50% of max.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Break Even: 55.95
Max Profit: 2.05 ($205)
ROC at Max: 3.66%
ROC at 50% Max: 1.83%
Opening (IRA): ARKK July 19th 41 Monied Covered Call... for a 39.64 debit.
Comments: After taking off my 44 monied for a small profit, re-upping with a setup in the same expiry, but with a better break even. Selling the -75 call against a one lot of stock to emulate the delta metrics of a 25 delta short put, but with built-in short call defense.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Break Even: 39.64
Max Profit: 1.36
ROC at Max: 3.43%
ROC at 50% Max: 1.72%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max.
Opening (IRA): XBI July 19th 83 Monied Covered Call... for an 80.91 debit.
Comments: After taking off my August 88 monied for a small profit, re-upping in shorter duration, but with a better break even than what I had with the August 88. Selling the -75 delta call against a one lot of stock to emulate the delta metrics of a 25 delta short put, but with built-in short call defense.
My general goal here is to not hang out in these positions for lengthy periods of time, but to take profit, re-evaluate the market for where the juice is at, and re-up if the underlying remains "sexy" from a premium-selling standpoint. XBI's 30-day IV isn't stellar at 30.9%, but it's toward the top of my IV screener, with miners and the silver ETF hogging three spots: TQQQ (51.8%); GDXJ (44.0%); GDX (38.7%); SLV (32.3%); SMH (31.6%); EWZ (31.1%); XBI (30.9%).
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Break Even: 80.91
Max Profit: 2.09
ROC at Max: 2.58%
ROC at 50% Max: 1.29%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max and/or roll out the short call aspect if it reaches 50% max or there is a test of my downside break even.
Opening (IRA): TQQQ June 28th 53 Monied Covered Call... for a 51.52 debit.
Comments: Re-upping in the June 28th expiry with a monied covered call, as there is no July yet. Selling the -75 delta call against a one lot to emulate the delta metrics of a 25 delta short put to have built-in defense via the short call and to take advantage of call side IV skew.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Break Even: 51.52
Max Profit: 1.48
ROC at Max: 2.87%
ROC at 50% Max: 1.44%
Will generally look to take profit on the entire setup at 50% max.
Opening (IRA): ARKK May 17th 44 Monied Covered Call... for a 43.00 debit.
Comments: High IVR/IV at 52.7/38.7.
Going monied here, buying a Johnny one lot and selling the -75 delta call against to emulate the delta metrics of a 25 delta short put to take advantage of elevated IV on the call side and to have built-in position defense via the short call. This is slightly shorter duration than I like to go (39 DTE), but I also don't have a ton on here, so scrounging around for decent IV underlyings. Cathie also doesn't pay divvies but once a year in December, so there's no point in hanging around in the stock for any period of time.
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max on the whole shebang (stock + short call) and/or roll out the short call if it hits 50% max to reduce cost basis further.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Cost Basis In Stock/Break Even: 43.00/share
Max Profit: 1.00
ROC at Max as a Function of Buying Power Effect: 2.33%
ROC at 50% Max: 1.16%
As previously noted in my other monied covered call posts, this only makes sense in a cash secured environment where you don't get BP relief going short put. On margin, short put will be the most BP efficient.
Opened (IRA): TQQQ May 17th 55 Monied Covered CallBought a one lot of shares and sold an in-the-money -75 delta call to emulate a 25 delta short put to take advantage of call IV skew and to have built-in pro via the short call.
Metrics:
Break Even/Cost Basis in Shares: 52.71
Max Profit: 2.29 ($229)
ROC %-age at Max: 4.34%
ROC %-age at 50% Max: 2.17%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max, add at intervals at a strike/cost basis better than what I currently have on should weakness present itself.
Opening (IRA): KWEB May 17th 24 Monied Covered CallLooking to get a fill on a monied covered call in KWEB (IVR/IV 12/33.2) while I wait around for some (or any) vol to show itself in the broader market. That IVR isn't great, but I'm going small so that I can potentially add at more favorable strikes/share cost bases should an opportunity present itself.
It's pre-market, so bid/ask is somewhat wide on both the shares and the short call, but I'm looking to buy a one lot and sell a -75 delta call against for around 26.09 in order to emulate the delta metrics of a 25 delta short put, have built-in short call defense, and to take advantage of IV skew on the call side (it's 39.4% at the 24 call strike; 32.4% at the 24 put).
On a side note, the on margin variant of a Plain Jane short put isn't paying spectacularly from a dollar and cents standpoint: the May 17th 24 short put is paying .37 at the mid, which isn't anything to write home about, but that would be on a BPE of 6.72 (5.51% ROC at max; 2.75% at 50% max; 23.63 break even) should you want to go the standard short put/acquire/cover route.
Break Even/Cost Basis in Shares/Buying Power Effect: 23.09
Max Profit: .91 ($91)
ROC at Max: 3.49%
ROC at 50% max: 1.74%
In all likelihood, I'll have to "penny up" if I don't get a fill for 23.09 ... .
Opening (IRA): GDX February 16th 29 Monied Covered Call... for a 28.24 debit.
Comments: GDX (IVR/IV 40.8/ 32.9) is at the top of my IV screener for ETF's (along with GDXJ, which has higher IV, but is less liquid).
Buying stock and selling the -71 delta call against, resulting in a max profit potential of .76 ($76)/contract; 2.69% ROC at max; 1.35% at 50% max. That .76 isn't massively compelling, but the ROC is "decent" for what I'm trying to do in the IRA on a month-month basis.
Opening (IRA): GDX August 16th 22 Monied Covered Call... for a 21.01 debit.
Comments: There isn't much that is weak in this market ... . Adding a rung to my GDX position out in August at a strike lower than what I currently have on. (See Posts Below).
.99 max on BPE of 21.01; 4.7% ROC at max; 2.4% at 50% max.
Opened (IRA): SMH May 17th 198 Monied Covered Call... for a 192.24 debit.
Comments: Opened this in late Friday's session as it floated to the top of my IV screener with IVR/IV at 106/39.
Sold the -75 delta call against 100 delta of long stock, with a resulting cost basis of 192.24/share. This is to emulate a 25 delta short put and to take advantage of call side IV skew while having "built-in" position defense via the short call. Will look to add at intervals, assuming IVR/IV remains high, generally taking profit at 50% max and defending via roll out of the short call.
Metrics:
BPE/Break Even/Cost Basis in Shares: 192.24
Max Profit: 5.76 ($576)
ROC at Max: 3.00%
ROC at 50% Max: 1.50%
Variants:
Short Put:
May 19th 200 Short Put, 4.65 at the mid, 195.35 (cash secured), 25.70 (on margin). 2.38% ROC at max, 1.19% at 50% max for cash secured; 18.09% ROC at max, 9.05% at 50% max on margin (which is why you stick with the short put on margin; it's more BP efficient).
Synthetic Short Put:
May 19th 110/200 Short Put Vertical, 4.50 at the mid, 85.50 (cash secured), paying .15 to bring in BPE by more than half, 5.26 ROC at max, 2.63% at 50% max.
This would only make sense in a cash secured environment from a BP efficiency standpoint; the naked short put remains more BP efficient on margin than either the covered call or the "synthetic naked short put" spread.
Standard Short Put Vertical:
May 19th 190/200 Short Put Vertical, 2.03 at the mid on BPE of 7.97 (both cash secured and on margin), 25.57% ROC at Max; 12.74% ROC at 50% max.
Opening (IRA): XBI May 17th 88 Monied Covered Call... for an 85.94 debit.
Comments: 32.5% 30-Day IV. Buying a one lot and selling a -75 delta call against to emulate a 25 short put, take advantage of call side IV skew, and to have built-in defense via the short call.
Metrics:
Cost Basis/Break Even/Buying Power Effect: 85.94
Delta/Theta: 28.5/4.31
Max Profit: 2.06 ($206)
ROC at Max: 2.40%
ROC at 50% Max: 1.20%
Will generally look to take profit on the entire setup (stock + short call) as a unit at 50% max; look to roll the short call for duration it hit 50% max at any time to reduce cost basis further; add short put, assuming I can get in at a strike with a lower break even than what I currently have on.
Opening (IRA): TQQQ April 19th 53 Monied Covered Call... for a 50.93 debit.
Comments: Selling the -75 delta strike against a one lot to emulate a 25 delta short put with built-in defense via the short call.
The call IV skew that I was looking to take advantage of before has evaporated somewhat, with the same strike short put paying about the same (1.94) as the max profit potential of this setup. Since I'm doing this in a cash secured environment, I don't get much BP relief over doing the monied versus the short put, so am really doing this setup for its "built-in defense" that I don't have to add in later, as I would should I want to defend a short put.
Will generally look to take profit on the entire setup at 50% max, look to roll out the short call at 50% max, and add at intervals, assuming I can get in at lower risk strikes.
Metrics:
Cost Basis/BPE/Break Even: 50.93
Max Profit: 2.07
ROC at Max: 4.06%
ROC at 50% Max: 2.03%
Opening (IRA): GDX June 21st 24 Monied Covered Call... for a 22.83 debit.
Comments: Selling the -75 call against a one lot here out in June where I have covered calls at the 29, 27, and now 24 strikes. 1.17 max on BPE of 22.83; 5.12% ROC at max; 2.56% at 50% max.
Going monied CC here in lieu of an equivalently delta'd short put to take advantage of call side IV skew (39.6% on the call side; 29.18% on the put side at the 24 strike).
This is probably about as much BP I want to devote to a miners position, which I view as an indirect rate cut play with the notion being that the dollar weakens somewhat, gold strengthens, and miners indirectly follow with bets being that there's a rate cut in May. It may naturally end up being later; the market hasn't exactly been "spot on" with either the timing of depth of cuts of late ... .
Alternatively, GDXJ/GDX are at the top of my screener for 30-day IV, so I'm just going where the juice is at.
BTO* FXI April 17th 20.5 Monied Covered Call... for a 19.90 debit.
Comments: Looking to establish a position in FXI over time on weakness via monied covered calls to emulate selling a 25 delta short put, but with built-in downside defense via the short call and to take advantage of call side IV skew.
The underlying also has a dividend that pays out in June and December, but with somewhat variable amounts and with the Dec distribution being far larger than the June one (e.g., 2022: June .145929; Dec .593146; 2023: June .154374; June .149 (special); Dec .6074). Consequently, I 'd be more interested in grabbing the Dec than the June, so may modify my strategy slightly to allow for the grabbing of those by selling an OTM covered call in those expiries instead of ITM so that my shares don't get called away before the divvies drop into my account.
I have an order in to open for 19.90, but may penny up to get a fill just to get a starter position on.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Cost Basis in Shares: 19.90
Break Even: 19.90
Max Profit: .60 ($60)
ROC %-age: 3.02% at max, 16.2% annualized; 1.51% at 50% max, 8.10% annualized.
* -- Buy to Open
Opening (IRA): USO April 19th 66 Monied Covered Call... for a 64.51 debit.
Comments: IV of 32.3%.
Selling the -75 call against a one lot of stock to emulate a 25 delta short put with built-in short call defense.
Metrics:
Cost Basis in Stock/Break Even/BPE: 64.51/share
Max Profit: 1.49
ROC at Max: 2.31%
ROC at 50% max: 1.15%
Opening (IRA): TQQQ April 19th 50 Monied Covered Call... for a 47.75 debit.
Comments: Dabbling a smidge in the leveraged ETF due to its high IV (56.3% 30-day).
Selling the -75 delta call against a one lot to emulate a 25 delta short put, but with "built-in" defense via the short call, which can be rolled down, out, or down and out to reduce cost basis and setup break even.
As usual with the sort of thing, will look to add at intervals, assuming I can get into setups that have a cost basis lower than this starter position.
Metrics:
BPE/Break Even: 47.75/share
Max Profit: 2.25 ($2.25)
ROC %-age at Max/50% Max: 4.71%/2.36%