Also, the potential rate of return is higher than it might appear at first blush. This is because the cost basis is much lower due to the collection of $1,480 in option premium with the sale of the May 25 in-the-money call option....
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Also, the potential rate of return is higher than it might appear at first blush. This is because the cost basis is much lower due to the collection of $1,480 in option premium with the sale of the May 25 in-the-money call option. Potential Return on In-the-Money Call Writes As you can see in Figure 2, with the May 25 in-the-money call write, the potential return on this strategy is +5% (maximum). This is calculated based on taking the premium received ($120) and dividing it by the cost basis ($2,380), which yields +5%. That may not sound like much, but recall that this is for a period of just 27 days. If used with margin to open a position of this type, returns have the potential to be much higher, but of course with additional risk. If we were to annualize this strategy and do in-the-money call writes regularly on stocks screened from the total population of potential covered call writes, the potential return comes in at +69%. If you can live with less downside risk and you sold the May 30 call instead, the potential return rises to +9.5% (or +131% annualized) - or higher if executed with a margined account. Conclusion Covered call writing has become a very popular strategy among option traders, but an alternative construction of this premium collection strategy exists in the form of an in-the-money covered write, which is possible when you find stocks with high implied volatility in their option prices. This was the case with our Rambus example. These conditions appear occasionally in the option markets, and finding them systematically requires screening. When found, an in-the-money covered call write provides an excellent, delta neutral, time premium collection approach - one that offers greater downside protection and, therefore, wider potential profit zone, than the traditional at- or out-of-the-money covered writes. For further reading, see Come One, Come All - Covered Calls.
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