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More SPY weeklies while Schwab plays catch-up

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

When SPY dropped to 111 this morning I started feeling better about writing some calls.  All my weekly options from last week were assigned and I was not unhappy about being in cash earlier this week.   I bought SPY at 111.07 and wrote SPY 111 calls at .85 —they expire Friday.  My breakeven point is 110.22 and my best case profit is .78 per share  which is 0.7% on my investment.

I called the Schwab options desk recently (877-673-7959) and they said that they do plan to offer weekly options, but not for a while.   The person I talked to said it would probably be a month or two.

Posted in Advanced Topics, Covered Calls, Options | View Comments

Playing the weeklies…

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Created a covered call position today with SPY at 106.89 and 107 SPY calls expiring this Friday–the 23rd.   The calls sold (to open) at 1.18, giving a 1.2% best case profit for the week if SPY closes Friday above 107.   Fidelity supports trading these weekly options, but apparently Schwab does not.

Posted in Covered Calls, Options, all | View Comments

Weekly options for the masses–SPY, QQQQ, IWM, DIA and others

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Anyone that trades options knows that the pace quickens the last few days before expiration.   The delta (the change in option price relative to the underlying)  for the ATM option is still around .5, but instead of gradual changes for the deltas on the strikes in / out of the money, the curve starts resembling a step function, going from zero for out-of-the-money, to one for in-the-money at expiration.   The time decay of the option premium (theta) also accelerates, with perhaps 50% of the decay in the last month happening in the last week of the option’s life.

Taken from http://www.option911.com/blog/option-education/how-option-time-premium-decays-over-the-weekend/, click to enlarge

Taken from http://www.option911.com/blog/option-education/how-option-time-premium-decays-over-the-weekend/, click to enlarge

All of this is of course modulated by any changes in the volatility of the underlying, and the market in general.

Some traders avoid options close to expiration because of these factors–and others flock to them.    As a covered call writer I am really attracted to the accelerated time decay of short term options.   I’m not taking any more risk than normal holding the underlying, and I am getting an accelerated decay in the price of the options I am short on.    I will often wait until there is only two or three weeks are remaining on the options to create the position.

Now it can be expiration week, every week for the following Stocks / ETFs (taken from this CBOE posting):

Weeklys on Exchange Traded Funds and equities. As of July 5, 2010, these included the following::

  • SPY – Standard & Poor’s Depositary Receipts
  • QQQQ – Nasdaq-100 Index Tracking Stock
  • IWM – iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund
  • GLD – Options on SPDR® Gold Shares
  • XLF – Financial Select Sector SPDR
  • EEM – iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index
  • C – Citigroup Inc
  • BAC – Bank of America Corp
  • AAPL – Apple Inc
  • BP – BP PLC
  • F – Ford
  • GOOG – Google Inc.

Fidelity supports trading on these new weekly options, but Schwab does not appear to.   Beware of the listed greeks on these options, the software may not be using the correct time until expiration.

The volume, at least on the SPY weeklies has been substantial (20K today on the 105’s expiring 9-July), so I think the options providers have a winner.

For more information see this options clearing house post.

Posted in Covered Calls, Dividend Capture, Options, all | View Comments

SPY dividend capture–June 2010

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

I bought SPY at 111.64, and sold-to-open SPY 108 June-30 expiration calls at 4.08 for a net investment (debit) of  107.58.     I used the quarterly SPY options because I could go considerably deeper in the money with the calls and still get a premium that is close to the likely SPY dividend for this quarter  (around $0.50).   Schwab does not appear to offer access to this series of  options, but Fidelity does.

If SPY stays above 111 through this Thursday I expect these options will be assigned–because the premium left on the calls will be less than the dividend the stock will payout.   Friday is the ex-dividend date for SPY.   If the calls are assigned I’ll collect $0.42 per share.     If the options are not assigned, I will collect the SPY dividend–lowering my breakeven point to around 107.08.

For more info on this dividend capture strategy see this post

Posted in Advanced Topics, Covered Calls, Dividend Capture, Options, all | View Comments

More on SPY

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Bought SPY at 114.69, sold-to-open 116 May calls at .58

Posted in Advanced Topics, Covered Calls, all | View Comments

Lots of premium available on SPY options

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

There is a lot of premium available on SPY options that will expire at the end of next week due to the recent market gyrations.   I created a covered call, buying SPY at 117.26, selling-to-open May 117 calls at 1.69 for a net investment of 115.57.   The Theta (time decay) on these options is $8 per day.

Posted in Covered Calls, Options, all | View Comments

Doubling up on Oil, betting on VIX dropping

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Did covered calls on Oil — bought USO at 37.19, sold-to-open May 37 calls at 1.02 for a net investment of 36.18.

Created a bear spread on VIX options today.   Betting on VIX going down is forecasting that the market in general will be flat or positive.  I sold-to-open June VIX 16 calls at 10.26, bought  June  VIX 32.5 calls at 1.88 for a net credit of  8.38.  I was able to approximately split the bid/ask prices with my combo order.   At the time of the order the spreads were approximately 10.00 / 10.60 on the June 16 options and 1.80/1.95 on the June 32.5 calls.  Going with the published bid/ask prices leaves money on the table.

The VIX cash index was around 28.5 at the time my order filled.   I initially tried to go short on VXX, but Schwab had VXX in the “hard to borrow” category this morning.   I suspect lots of people were trying to short the VXX today.   I went with June options rather than May because there are only 7 days left on the May VIX options–I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see one more down leg in this correction.    I expect the June options will move much down much slower than the VIX index as the market moves away from fear mode.

Posted in Advanced Topics, Covered Calls, Options, VIX, all | View Comments

Back into Oil

Friday, April 30th, 2010

I did covered calls on USO,  selling-to-open the 41 May calls at 1.33 and buying USO at 41.47 for a net investment of 40.17.    The US economic situation continues to look up, and the oil spill in the Gulf will do nothing to help the supply situation.  Plus it gives companies an excuse to raise oil prices…

Posted in Covered Calls, all | View Comments

Bull Spread — SPY at 121.0

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

One alternative to a covered call is a bull spread.  You give up some premium in exchange for significantly reducing your downside risk.  I bought SPY 118 May calls at 3.91 and sold 121 May calls at 1.82 for a net debit of 2.09.  SPY was right at 121 at the time, so the the 121 calls were right at the money–which is the  maximum premium point (the 120 and 122 calls had about .45 less premium).  Maximum profit on this trade is 0.91,   maximum loss is the debit amount — 2.09.

Posted in Advanced Topics, Covered Calls, Options, all | View Comments

Dividend capture with covered calls—too hot, too cold, or just right!

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

One strategy for capturing dividends is to buy the stock/ETF and then sell calls against that security as a hedge—a covered call.  The value of the short calls moves in the opposite direction of the stock/ETF, providing a hedge.   There are three major variables with this strategy:

1. How many days before the ex-dividend date do you put the position in place?
2. What strike price do you select for the options?
3. How many days until the options expire?

Your risk profile, playing with these variables, can be generalized into the three situations below:

Too cold (too low a risk)    Calls too deep in the money
  • If you sell deep in the money (ITM) options you may feel you’ve found the golden goose.  The calls provide a great hedge, virtually eliminating risk from your position.   Unfortunately, your calls will almost certainly be assigned the evening before the ex-dividend day.  The owners of the calls are not about to let you get away with collecting dividends with such low risk, so they exercise the option you sold them.  They call away your stock and they collect the dividend.  Your position is closed out—no dividend for you.  The only profit you might have is from any premium present when you created the position (if your net investment was less than the strike price).   Some people use this strategy hoping that their options will not be assigned, and not all are, but in my experience the percentage not assigned is very low.

Too hot  (too much risk)    Calls without enough hedge value,  calls that don’t expire for a long time

  • If you sell options that have a strike price that is at or above the current market price of the stock/ETF you can collect a significant premium, and signficantly lower the risk of having your stock assigned.  However, since the value of the options is relatively small (perhaps .5% of the value of the stock) you don’t have much downside protection.   A few bad days on the market can wipe out a year’s worth of dividend capture profits.
  • Not having your stock assigned is good from a dividend collection standpoint, but it is bad if your options have weeks until they expire.  If your calls have a while to run you will see the premium on your unassigned options increase by about the amount of the dividend on the ex-dividend day.   Since you are short these calls your net profit on ex-dividend day will be about zero.   Until the premium on the option decays away, ultimately going to zero at expiration, your position is usually not profitable.   While you wait for the premium on the call to decay you are exposed to market risk—this can be very unpleasant.

    • Just right
    • What I have found to be a good combination is:
      • Find stocks/ETFs where the options will expire within 10 business days of the ex-dividend date
      • Create the covered call position about a week before the ex-dividend date
      • Choose a strike price that gives you a premium about equal to the dividend value.
    • This recipe will usually result in a covered call position that will be assigned on the evening before the ex-dividend date.  You typically don’t collect the dividend, but since the option is closed out you keep the option premium which is roughly equal to the dividend amount.
    • The calls will provide a decent hedge against risk.  Not enough to protect against a major market move, but they do provide significant protection
    • If the stock/ETF value goes down after you put the covered call in place then the chances of call assignment decrease—bettering your chances of collecting the dividend.  If you do collect the dividend  the breakeven point on your position is improved, and your maximum profit potential goes up by the dividend amount.
    • If the bid / ask spreads on the stocks / options are significant you will probably need to use a combo order to get a decent profit potential.
    • While ok in flat or rising market — this position will not hedge a serious bear move — be prepared to bail out if the market goes seriously south

    Related posts

    Posted in Advanced Topics, Covered Calls, Dividend Capture, Options, all, dividend, ex-dividend | View Comments

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