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Friday, December 28, 2012

3 Weeks Left In ARNA Trade; Code Yellow Status

There are 3 weeks left on the Arena Pharma covered call trade. The status of the trade is Code Yellow. The stock closed the week at $8.85. That is a rise of $0.18 from last week. The Jan $10.00 call ask closed week at $0.22. That is no change from last week.

Previous covered call trades have been made in AA, OCZ, YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.  

Friday, December 21, 2012

4 Weeks Left On ARNA Trade

There are four weeks remaining on the current Arena Pharma trade. The status of the trade is Code Yellow. The stock closed the week at $8.63. That is a decline of $0.71 from where the trade started. It is higher than the cost basis by $0.18. The Jan $10.00 call ask price closed the week at $0.22. That is a decline of $0.30  from when the trade started on Wednesday.

Previous covered call trades have been made in AA, OCZ, YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.  

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

ARNA Rollover Covered Call Trade

For the first time, Sell The Call has rolled over a covered call trade. The December $9.00 call that was sold for $0.41 after purchasing the shares was purchased back for $0.43. The shares are currently trading at $9.34. A January $10.00 call was then sold for $0.52.  The cost basis for the shares is currently $7.99.

The status of the trade is Code Yellow.

Previous covered call trades have been made in AA, OCZ, YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.  

Friday, December 14, 2012

1 Week Left on ARNA Trade; Status Code Green

There is one more week remaining on the Arena covered call trade. The status of the trade is Code Green. The stock closed the week at $9.18. That is a rise of $0.62 from last week. The December $9.00 call ask price closed the week at $0.34. That is a rise of $0.12  from last week.

An interesting point in this day's trading is that the time value for the option went from $0.28 in the beginning of the day to $0.16 at close. Even though it is a significant drop, the price of the option has a higher than normal time value.

Sell The Call will watch the trade and see if a buyback will happen before next Friday.

Previous covered call trades have been made in AA, OCZ, YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.  

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

ARNA Trade Now Code Yellow

The Arena trade has now turned Code Yellow. The stock closed the day at $8.97. The Dec $9.00 call ask price closed the day at $0.28.

Previous covered call trades have been made in AA, OCZ, YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages. 


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

ARNA Trade Turns Code Green

The current ARNA covered call trade has turned Code Green today. The stock closed the day at $9.12 . The Jan $9.00 call option ask closed the day at $0.38.

Sell The Call has a few options to consider now that the stock is above $9.00 so close to expiration. It will choose between one of the two opportunities below.  

- It can let the trade continue on its current track. That will result in the shares being sold and the trade ending on expiration day, December 21. It would total a profit of $1.22 per share.

- It can buy back the $9.00 call and sell a January call (either $9.00 or $10.00) for more revenue.


Previous covered call trades have been made in AA, OCZ, YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages. 

Friday, December 7, 2012

2 Weeks Until ARNA Trade Ends; Status Code Yellow

There are two weeks remaining on the Arena Pharma covered call trade. The status of the trade is Code Yellow. The stock closed the week at $8.56. That is a decline of $0.30 from last week. The January $9.00 call ask price closed the week at $0.22. That is a decline of $0.19 from last week.

Previous covered call trades have been made in AA, OCZ, YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.

New Born To Sell Newsletter

Below is the most recent Born To Sell Newsletter.

Sum Of All Fears (Time Premium)
Right now there are 136,136,068 open call option contracts across all underlying stocks, ETFs, expirations, and strikes. The sum of all the time premium (not including intrinsic value) in those 136 million contracts is $12,370,031,659.88. That's $12 billion of wasting assets. Of course, 60% of those contracts will be closed prior to expiration, but at least $5 billion willtime decay to zero, and some of that will go to us covered call writers.
AAPL Weekly Trade
Followers of our blog know that we've had a good track record of weekly buy-writes on AAPL (24 out of 24 trades closed profitable). We believe this week's pull back is another good entry point.
What has changed in the last few days to justify a 70 point drop from 590-ish to 520-ish? Nothing fundamental to their business. Yes, there are fears of increased competition, but it's mostly a combination of tax-selling (people taking gains this year in advance of feared increases in capital gains rates next year) and margin requirements being increased for some AAPL shareholders.
We believe there is an opportunity this week. For details see our blog article onshort-term buy-write in AAPL.
Scanner Nominated Again
Born To Sell's covered call investment tools have been nominated (again!) for a trading software award. Help us win (by voting) and you are automatically entered into a drawing for $10,000 of trading software. Please vote for us in the Trading Software category. We are listed as "Covered Call Investment Tools":
Thanks! And good luck in the $10,000 free drawing!
How Professionals Use Options
A recent Options Industry Council article interviewing managers of a $200 million fund on how they use options stated: "(1) we don't own more than 15 names; we know these companies quite well and only deal with names we want to own, (2) if you can write calls 3 or 4 times per year you can increase returns substantially, and (3) we tend to stay within 90 days, and include dividends when we can."
Sounds like a reasonable strategy: Not chasing high flyers, being consistent in their use of options over time, and using relatively short time frames.
Buy-Writes By Pension Funds
Pension funds, who have historically been shy about using options, are beginning to see the wisdom, according to an article on MarketsMedia. Not all option strategies are created equal, and the income-generating technique of writing call options against stocks they own has some appeal.
"A buy-write strategy generated about 5-8% more than a long-U.S. equity strategy in 2011, when stocks were highly volatile yet finished roughly flat", according to Phil Gocke of OIC.
Read the full article Pensions Warm Up to Options Slowly.
AAPL And 3 Other Covered Calls For Dec 22 Expiration
With just over 2 weeks to go until the December options expire, the top 4 covered calls Born To Sell members have written are (in order of popularity):
RankSymbolStrike
1.AAPL560
2.AMRN11
3.DOW30
4.GMCR25
(Note: Born To Sell members have access to the full Top 10 Covered Call list, as well as having this list update real-time as members change positions. These are not recommendations, they are merely a reflection of our members' current positions.)

Saturday, December 1, 2012

3 Weeks Unitl Expiration on ARNA Trade; Status Code Yellow

There are three weeks remaining on the current ARNA covered call trade. The status of the trade is Code Yellow. The stock closed the week at $8.86. That is a decline of $0.36 for the week. The Dec $9.00 call ask closed the week at $0.43. That is a decline of $0.12 for the week. Since the beginning of the trade, the stock has risen $0.84, while the option has risen $0.02.

Previous covered call trades have been made in AA, OCZ, YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Four Weeks Until Current ARNA Trade Expires; Code Green

There are four weeks left until the current Arena Pharma covered call trade ends. The status of the trade is Code Green. The stock ended last week at $9.22. That is an increase of $0.72. The December $9.00 call closed the week at $0.55. That is an increase of $0.16 for the week.


Previous covered call trades have been made in AA, OCZ, YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Sold AA and OCZ Shares Code Red Status

Last week, Sell The Call sold the shares it owned of AA and OCZ. Both stocks hit the Code Red level. A dividend of $0.03 per share for AA will still be received on November 25. Analysis of both trades will be forthcoming in separate posts.

Previous covered call trades have been made in YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options


** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages. 

Born To Sell Article About Time Premium

Here is an article sent to Sell The Call by Born To Sell. It was back in September.

A Lot Of Time Premium
Ever wonder how much total time premium is in the market at any given time?
It turns out that right now there are 130,513,596 open call option contracts. The sum of all the time premium in those 130 million contracts is $18,757,615,007.42. That's $18 billion of wasting assets that someone is going to collect (*)!
billion dollarsWhat does $18B look like?
We couldn't find a photo of $18 billion in cash (and, sadly, are a wee bit shy of the $18B needed to take our own photo), but we did find a photo of one billion in cash. You'll just have to imagine 18 times as much as the pile of $100 bills pictured here.
And if you want to see a LOT of cash (like 1000 times as much), check out theTrillion Dollars article from January.
(*) Since 60% of contracts are closed prior to expiration, only 40% of $18B, or roughly $7B is going to time decay to zero between now and expiration. Of course, some contracts will partially decay before being closed, and new contracts will be opened between today and expiration, so it is likely more than $7B of premium will be collected. In any case, it's a big number and you should get your piece by selling some premium!
Five Ways To Increase Portfolio Income
There are many ways to use covered calls to increase your portfolio's income. Here are five of them:
  1. Turn non-dividend stocks into yield generators. Any stock in an existing portfolio can generate a dividend-like yield by selling out of the money call options. Probably want to sell 10% out of the money strikes so you leave yourself some upside potential on the underlying stock or ETF (it is presumed you are bullish, since you already own them).
  2. Double Dividends. If your stock pays 3%/year, why not make it pay 6%? Take the annual dividend and divide by 12. That's the amount of time premium you need to capture each month in order to double the yield. Example: If your stock pays $1.20/year dividend, sell out of the money calls to generate 10 cents/month ($1.20 / 12) or more in premium (probably a bit more to cover transaction costs). If you don't like the near month strike price that is offering 10 cents of premium, then go out 3 or 6 months and try to get 30 or 60 cents of premium at a strike you are happy with. The point is, premium should average 10 cents per month (after transaction costs) in order to double your dividend (for this example stock).
  3. Target Yield. Say you have a goal of 1%/month in income (12%/year). All you have to do is find the deepest in the money buy-writes that yield 12% or more on an annualized basis (including dividends, since your goal is simply to have 1%/month in overall yield). Once you have those buy-writes identified, sort by downside protection, eliminate risky situations (like earnings before expiration, small market cap, thinly traded, biotech, etc) and then research the ones at the top of the list. (hint: our screener will save you a ton of time)
  4. Dividend Capture. Find all stocks that have an ex-dividend date before the option expiration date. Remove those with earnings before expiration and then sell in the money calls. You'll get time premium plus the dividend. If the time premium remaining the day before the ex-dividend date is really small (zero or very close to zero) then you may getearly exercised, but you'll still make something. (hint: our screener has a special dividend search to help you with this strategy)
  5. Time Premium Capture. Sort all 240,000 covered calls by annualized return and then downside protection, research the ones at the top of the list, and then do some deep in the money short-term buy-writes to capture time premium. (hint: not surprising, our screener does this for you)
Any way you do it, you can increase portfolio income and lower portfolio volatility by selling calls on stocks and ETFs you own (or buying stocks just for that purpose).
Free Covered Call Books Giveaway
Like Born To Sell? Help us get the word out and you could win a free book on covered call investing, or an iTunes gift card:
New Insights On Covered Call Writing book Options For Volatile Markets book win an iTunes gift card
There are 8 ways to enter (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc). Full details on theLink To Us And Win page. Thanks and good luck in the drawings!

Friday, November 16, 2012

5 Weeks Left on Current ARNA; Status Code Yellow

There are 5 weeks left on the current ARNA trade. The status of the trade is currently Code Yellow. The stock closed the week at $8.50. That is an increase of $0.46 since the trade started. The December $9.00 call that was sold is currently at $0.39. That is a decrease of $0.02 since the trade started.


Previous covered call trades have been made in AA, OCZ, YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Arena December Covered Call Trade Made

Sell The Call has made a covered call trade on Arena Pharma. Shares were purchased at a price of $8.04. The December $9.00 call was sold on the shares purchased for $0.44.


 Previous covered call trades have been made in AA, OCZ, YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

AA Shares Now Ex-Dividend

Alcoa just announced that shares are now ex-dividend. A $0.03 per share dividend will be received for each share owned. The payment will be made on November 25, 2012. This will drop the cost basis of the trade by $0.03 per share on the Alcoa trade. Currently, the trade is Code Orange. AA is trading at $8.61.


 Previous covered call trades have been made in YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.


** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.



Friday, October 12, 2012

Bought More OCZ Shares

After the cataclysmic drop that happened on Wednesday, it was decided that more shares would be bought. Today Sell The Call bought more shares of OCZ. The shares were purchased for $1.67. The reason for the purchase is that the new cost basis would be at a point where whether through a buyout or positive business dealings, the stock will move past that point in the next 6-12 months. This should allow for more call selling in the near future.

 Previous covered call trades have been made in YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options


** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages. 

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Big Week For Sell The Call Shares

This week will be an important week for both Alcoa and OCZ Technology. Both report earnings (Alcoa on the 9th, OCZ on the 10th). There should be some trading going on after both releases.

If Alcoa can show a decent number (current estimates have a profit of $0.01 per share), and positive guidance, the stock could move into a position that would enable Sell The Call to sell calls on the shares it currently owns. As the closest timeframe for a decent trade isn't until the April calls, Sell The Call is holding off for now.

OCZ will be reporting earnings with new management. This could go either way. Sell The Call is expecting a large (20 +) percentage move in either direction. If the release is positive, expect Sell the Call to sell another call on the shares owned. If it is not, expect Sell The Call to sell the shares as it will probably be a Code Red situation.

Previous covered call trades have been made in YHOO, ZAGG, LLEN, CLSN, EDMC, EXAS, ARIA

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options


** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages. 

Sunday, September 30, 2012

No Calls To Sell

At this moment in time, Sell The Call has chosen not to sell calls against shares owned......yet. Sell The Call currently owns shares in Alcoa (AA) and OCZ Technology (OCZ). For different reasons, Sell The Call is waiting to make the next covered call trade for both companies.

Alcoa is currently trading at $8.85. The current cost basis of the shares is $10.40. Because Sell The Call does not want to sell calls that are longer than 3 months, there are no profitable trades available. Dividends of the shares will currently be the income portion of the trade and lower the cost basis. As the price of aluminum has increased 15% over the last month, Alcoa's share price should increase as its earnings reflect the aluminum price increase.

OCZ is currently trading at $3.47. It has had a bad month punctuated by the removal of the CEO after a failed attempt to sell the company. The next earnings call for the company is coming up in the next couple of weeks. Anything could happen on this conference call. Sell The Call feels that the bad news for the stock is already shown in the share price. If the cc does not prove positive for the company, Sell The Call will sell the stock. If the cc does prove positive, Sell The Call feels that the stock will move considerably higher compared to its current price and allow for a profitable covered call trade.

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.


** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.



Monday, September 24, 2012

Waiting On OCZ Before Next Trade

With earnings scheduled for next week, Sell The Call is going to wait until then to make the next trade on OCZ. Earnings regularly raise the volatility in the stock. Because the stock is not far from the Code Red point, waiting to make the next trade is best right now.

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options


** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages. 

Saturday, September 22, 2012

OCZ Covered Call Option Trade Ends Code Orange;

The OCZ trade has ended with the option expiring worthless. The trade ended Code Orange. The stock closed the week at $4.15. Sell The Call will go back into the options market and sell another call against the shares owned.

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options


** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.



Saturday, September 15, 2012

One Week Remaining on OCZ Trade

There is one week remaining on the OCZ covered call trade. The current status of the trade is Code Orange. The stock closed the week at $4.55. That is a drop of $0.04 from last week. The Sep $6.00 call ask price closed the week at $0.05. That is a drop of $0.05 from last week.

Sell The Call will be looking to go back into the options market to sell another call on OCZ when the trade expires next Friday.

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.




** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

2 Weeks left in OCZ Covered Call Trade...Code Yellow

There are 2 weeks remaining on the current OCZ covered call trade. The status of the trade is Code Orange. The stock closed the week at $4.59. That is a drop of $1.07 from last week. The September $6.00 call ask price is now $0.10. That is a drop of $0.25 from last week.

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options. 

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages. 

Sunday, September 2, 2012

3 Weeks Remaining on OCZ Covered Call Trade

There are three weeks remaining on the current OCZ covered call trade. The status of the trade is Code Yellow. The stock closed the week at $5.66. That is a drop of $0.01 for the week. The Sep $6.00 call ask price closed the week at $0.35. That is a drop of $0.15 for the week.

If you are interested in futures options or futures etf options, Sell The Call is now following Trading Futures ETF Options.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages. 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Alcoa Dividend Received

On August 27, Alcoa issued Sell The Call a dividend of $0.03 per share. The cash received will be used towards the next covered call trade. The stock is currently trading at $8.50. The trade is currently Code Orange.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages. 

Saturday, August 25, 2012

4 Weeks left on OCZ Covered Call Trade Code Yellow

There are four weeks left on the current OCZ covered call trade. The status of the trade is now Code Yellow. The stock closed the week at $5.67. That is a rise for the week of $0.40. The September $6.00 call ask price closed the week at $0.50. That is a rise for the week of $0.15.

If you also like to trade aggressively, Sell The Call has started following Trading Futures Options. It is a blog following a trading account focused on trading Futures Options and Commodity ETF Options.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages. 

Monday, August 20, 2012

New Covered Call Trade in OCZ

Sell The Call has sold the Sep $6.00 call against shares that are owned. The revenue received from selling the call was $0.35 before commissions and fees. The stock price is $5.27. The cost basis for the shares bought continues to drop. The trade is currently Code Yellow. The trade ends September 21.


 ** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages. 

Friday, August 17, 2012

OCZ Covered Call trade ended Code Yellow

The current OCZ covered call trade has ended. The status of the trade is Code Yellow. The stock ended the week at $5.26. Sell The Call will look into the options market to sell calls next week on the stock.


** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.

Friday, August 10, 2012

One Week left on OCZ Covered Call Trade...Currently Code Orange

There is one more week left on the current OCZ covered call trade. The status of the trade is Code Orange. The stock closed the week at $5.18. That is a decline of $0.53 from last week. The August $6.00 call ask price closed the week at $0.20. That is a decline of $0.35 from last week.


** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages. 

Saturday, August 4, 2012

2 Weeks Until OCZ Trade Ends...Currently Code Yellow

There are 2 weeks left on the current OCZ covered call trade. The trade is currently Code Yellow. The stock closed the week at $5.71. That is a decline of $1.37 from last week. The Aug $6.00 call ask price closed at $0.55. That is a decline of $1.35.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Alcoa goes Ex-Dividend

Alcoa has gone ex-dividend. Sell The Call will receive a dividend of $0.03 per share on August 25.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages. 

August Born To Sell Newsletter

Below is the Born To Sell August newsletter. Topics discussed include retirement calculators, Apple Ex-dividend, and a list of popular covered call trades.

Born To Sell Seller's Paradise
Aug 1, 2012
Retirement Calculators
retirement calculatorRetirement calculators can be fun... Just enter some crazy values and you're an automatic millionaire waiting to happen, enjoying huge projected withdrawals after an early retirement.
Rarely is it that easy. Is it realistic to assume you'll make 20%/year for the next 20 years, never have a down year, and have no increase in underlying expenses or tax rates? Probably not.
Recently we came across a very thorough retirement calculator written by a devoted covered call writer. You can read about it and other retirement calculators in A Retirement Calculator For The Covered Option Writer.
retirement counseling and financial planning
Apple's Ex-Div Date Next Week
Apple's ex-dividend date is August 9th, and the company will pay a $2.65 dividend to anyone who owns the stock on the close of August 8th. So, if you want the dividend, own the stock when the market closes on August 8th. You can sell it the morning of the 9th and still get the dividend (although it won't be paid until the pay date of Aug 16).
A better strategy, that combines covered calls with dividend capture, is to own the stock and sell a covered call with an expiration date later than the ex-div date (August 9th). Because AAPL trades weekly options, you could initiate a buy-write this Thursday (Aug 2nd) when the Aug 10 weeklys begin to trade.
Buy 100 shares of stock and sell an in the money covered call (maybe 10 points in the money, but it depends on how bullish you are; and remember when setting the strike that the stock will open 2.65 lower on the 9th due to the dividend having been paid). You'll collect some time premium as well as the dividend in an 8-day trade.
Born To Sell has as specialized search mode called Dividend Capture that is optimized for covered call trades just like (with ex-div dates prior to option expiration). Check it out under the Search->Dividends menu.
When To Roll
'Rolling' a covered call position is the act of buying back the short call option you've already sold and then selling another one with a different expiration date or strike price (or both). It is an important skill to have in order to maximize your time premium capture.
The key question is "When should I roll?" There is no single answer as it depends on your outlook for the underlying stock, whether there are any tax issues of assignment, your risk tolerance, if there are earnings coming up, your transaction costs, the bid-ask spread on the options, and the premiums being offered.
One common reason to roll is when there is little to no time premium remaining in the option you are currently short. The whole purpose of shorting the call option was to capture time premium. Once it is gone, why stay short? Maybe if it has a few days to go and a few pennies of premium left you can just let it expire (especially if your transaction costs to buy it back are high).
But if there are more than a few days remaining and you are trying to optimize the time premium per day you receive, then very often it's best to buy back the option that only has a few pennies of time premium and then sell another one that has more time premium. If you really want to maximize your time premium capture then you should be short the option that has the highest time premium per day at all times (but consider your transaction costs for switching too often).
For example, if there was an option with 5 days remaining trading at 15 cents then it has 3 cents per day of time premium. Maybe the same underlying stock has another option with 35 days remaning selling for $1.40 (same strike). That one has 4 cents per day of time premium remaining. But maybe there is an earnings announcement before this 35-day option expires -- more risk (which is why there is more premium).
And what about capital gains/losses and tax treatment? Do you want the stock called away so that it becomes a realized gain or loss? Or is the stock in a tax-deferred account so it doesn't matter?
Unfortunately, there is no single best answer on when to roll. But a tiny amount of time premium remaining in the option you sold is a pretty good place to start thinking about rolling.
Born To Sell's Dashboard feature lets you see at a glance how much time premium remains in each of your positions (as as %, $s per share, or in absolute $s). You can sort by this attribute and then your most likely roll candidates will be on the left. And the Roll Me feature shows you 15 scenarios side by side so you can compare the option you are currently short with 14 alternatives... a real time saver, and premium maximizer.
Free Covered Call Books Giveaway
Like Born To Sell? Help us get the word out and you could win a free book on covered call investing, or an iTunes gift card:
New Insights On Covered Call Writing book Options For Volatile Markets book win an iTunes gift card
There are 8 ways to enter (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc). Full details on the Link To Us And Win page. Thanks and good luck in the drawings!
MSFT And 3 Other Covered Calls For Aug 18 Expiration
With 3 weeks to go until the August options expire, the top 4 covered calls Born To Sell members have written are (in order of popularity):
Rank Symbol Strike
1. MSFT 29
2. AAPL 600
3. MMR 13
4. FCX 31
(Note: Born To Sell members have access to the full Top 10 Covered Call list, as well as having this list update real-time as members change positions. These are not recommendations, they are merely a reflection of our members' current positions.)
AAPL And Other Covered Call Watchlist Stocks
Currently, the top 8 stocks Born To Sell members are using for their Watchlist are (in order of popularity):
Rank Symbol
1. AAPL
2. INTC
3. MSFT
4. JNJ
5. T
6. GE
7. CSCO
8. CAT
(Note: Born To Sell members have access to the full Top 20 Watchlist, as well as having this list update real-time as members change their watchlists. And, you can have the highest yielding covered calls from your personal watchlist emailed to you after the close each day. Never miss a fat premium from your watchlist again!)
Want More Covered Call Goodness?
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Term Price
Monthly $59.95
Quarterly $149.95 (17% discount)
Annual $499.95 (31% discount)
Plus, all subscriptions begin with a no-obligation 2-week free trial. What are you waiting for? Start collecting premium today!
Happy Trading,
The Born To Sell Team

Sell The Call does not have a position in any of the above stocks.

** Disclaimer** - Sell The Call is simply posting information. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities above. Do your due diligence before investing as there is risk to all investments. Be sure to Like ourFacebook page, and follow Sell The Call's Twitter and Stocktwits pages.