Ninja Trading

A covered call strategy within a cycle will require people to sell options against the stock. If the stock is above the strike price, the stock will be “called” away. The seller receives the premium, but the owner of the call receives the shares at the strike price. There are various strategies involving this covered call strategy.

Some people prefer to have the covered call eventually pay back the stock owner his investment, so that he or she can reinvest that money, and upon receiving the investment back, the person will let the stock run. If this is the strategy, ideally you want to sell covered calls as the stock falls, as it stays flat, and then you want to have your cash back and let the stock run when it is on its way up again. This can allow you to buy an out of favor stock that is still in it’s decline, but in the second half of the decline, reduce your cost basis to zero, and still own the stock near it’s bottom. In the cycle mentioned earlier, depending on how fast the yield will allow you to recover the price of the stock, You will invest in the stock as early as the beginning of “dogs” and as late as contrarian, and recover your cost as early as contrarian, and as late as the start of estimate revision.

Another covered call strategy would be to buy a neglect, contrarian, or positive earnings surprise stock, sell out of the money covered calls, and continue to do so until the end of the growth stage of the stock, and not only stop selling the calls, but to just sell the stock.

Yet another strategy would be to write a covered call until around 20% can be gained, either through capital appreciation or collecting the option, then to convert the stock into a LEAP call as soon as selling the stock plus the premiums collected can pay for the call. This allows you to have a quicker turnover rate in terms of getting your money out, and playing with the house’s money.

This would be great for anyone who intends on having the stock paid for, and expecting to own the stock option through the entire length of the option or longer if they intend on rolling over the gains by buying another LEAP. It is also a good strategy if the stock’s future becomes less certain, and the investor wants to protect his or her initial investment. Now if someone rolls a stock into a stock option that doesn’t necessarily mean they are done collecting income from covered calls. There is far more to be learned about covered calls, so make sure to do your research before considering if its right for you.