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Showing content with the highest reputation on 10/04/2012 in Posts

  1. 1 point
    As one of the other posters noted, I do sell covered calls on LEAPS -- particularly AAPL. That said, someone said they like that strategy because it "limits losses." I would respectfully disagree, as the losses, if any, are amplified over a covered call on a stock. Let's take one I'm in right now. I bought the Dec 600 AAPL Leap when AAPL was at 690, it cost me $91.50. That week I sold the weekly 700 call for $5.50. That's a six percent return in ONE WEEK. If the price goes way up (lets say 710), sure I have to buy the call back for a $10.00 loss, but the LEAP has gained $20 -- so even a better situation. But what if (as actually happened), AAPL drops to 660?. Well my LEAP is now worth $60.00 -- a 30% loss on your principal, in exchange for a 6% gain on the sale. Whereas if you had actually owned AAPL,, the decline from 690 to 660 is only a 4.3% loss. There's a big difference between a 4 percent and a thirty percent loss. The trade off is you still only got the $5.50, which is less than a one percent return. So what to do when the price plummets like that and your LEAP loses value? (technically not a LEAP because it's December). This is where trade management comes in. I'm still positive on AAPL, so I don't panic. What I do is roll short 700 call to a short 690 call (still above my original purchase price) for another $4.00. My "basis" is now $82, so my breakeven price for AAPL is 682. So in week two, I'll sell a call above that price, ideally 685-690 (which is what I did), garnering another $4.00. I continue to do so for as long as you want. WARNINGS: Earnings can play havoc with this as you will get a large price swing. In the perfect world you do this up to one week before earnings, with AAPL's price being steady. You also need to have a plan on what to do if the price REALLY drops out quickly (personally my plan is to avoid stocks where I see a big risk of a 10% decline in the underlying in the short term). Always have your pain point known in advance to know when to just take your losses and exit.
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