Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Rolled C Covered Call

As discussed here CCI has a long position in the financial sector etf (xlf) via the Jan 15 $10 Call, that has usually been hedged via a shorter duration short call in Citigroup (C).

With only a few days until expiration, CCI rolled the short call in Citigroup as a hedge against the long. leveraged position in XLF held in the portfolio. Specifically,  CCI
  • bought back the Dec  21 $52.50 call at $.08, harvesting $.36 in option premium per contract
  • sold the Jan 10, $53 call at $.44/contract.  
Note: C is scheduled to report earnings on Jan 13.  This strike date was selected to avoid the volatility of that event.  This position will likely be rolled out to a strike well beyond the earnings date (feb?) if an opportunity to harvest option premium presents itself in the next few weeks


Since inception on Jan 8, 2013 the performance of various potential holdings as of the time of this trade are shown below:
  • The XLF etf  has been relatively flat lately but continues to hold onto its excellent performance since January - up 24.7%! That is comprised of 23.4% unrealized  cap gain, and 1.3% in dividends.
  • The leverage obtained by instead simply holding the Jan 15 $10 call has generated and unrealized, leveraged, capital gain of 58.0%.  (leverage is great when it works!!!)
  • The leveraged, long/short strategy defined in this thread is up 53.8%. That is comprised of 39.5% in unrealized leveraged capital gains, 14.3% in realized option premium.  

Monday, December 16, 2013

Rolling Small Cap (IWM) Covered Calls

The Index Covered Call Trading Plan  (aka: ICC) is CCI's approach for managing a position of index ETFs and related covered calls.  The most recent trade against this plan is described below.  A reader can find details about the rational and management of the trades at the ICC trading plan tab on CCI's home page. 

UNDERLYING ETF:  IWM


DESCRIPTION: iShares Russell 2000
 
TRANSACTION TYPE: Roll Out 
CCI  harvested some option premium and repositioned the IWM covered call position as described below.
 
TRANSACTION DATE: Dec. 13
Action: Buy to close
Exp. Date: Dec. 21,  2013
Strike: $113
Price: $0.21
 
Action: Sell to Open
Exp. Date: Dec. 27, 2013 (out one week)
Strike: $111
Price: $0.52

Net Credit/Contract: $0.31

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Rolled Emerging Market (EEM) Covered Calls

 The Index Covered Call Trading Plan  (aka: ICC) is CCI's approach for managing a position of index ETFs and related covered calls.  The most recent trade against this plan is described below.  A reader can find details about the rational and management of the trades at the ICC trading plan tab on CCI's home page.

UNDERLYING ETF: EEM   
DESCRIPTION: iShares Emerging Market Shares  


TRANSACTION TYPE:    CCI harvested some option premium and re-establish the covered call position as described below.

TRANSACTION DATE: Wed 12/10/13 
 
Action: Buy to Close
Exp. Date: Dec,  13 2013
Strike: $42
Price: $.07
 
Action: Sell to Open  
Exp. Date: Jan. 3, 2013 (3 weeks out
Strike: $42
Price: $.38

Net Credit: $.31 after commissions

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Rolled Small Cap Covered Call Position

The Index Covered Call Trading Plan  (aka: ICC) is CCI's approach for managing a position of index ETFs and related covered calls.  The most recent trade against this plan is described below.  A reader can find details about the rational and management of the trades at the ICC trading plan tab on CCI's home page. 

UNDERLYING ETF:  IWM


DESCRIPTION: iShares Russell 2000
 
TRANSACTION TYPE: Roll Out 
Small cap stocks puled back just enough for to allow CCI to harvest some option premium and reposition the IWM covered call position as described below.
 
TRANSACTION DATE: Dec. 10
Action: Buy to close
Exp. Date: Dec. 13,  2013
Strike: $113
Price: $0.17
 
Action: Sell to Open
Exp. Date: Dec. 21, 2013 (out one week)
Strike: $113
Price: $0.57

Net Credit Contract after commissions: $0.39

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Keep on Rolling Emerging Market Covered Calls

The Index Covered Call Trading Plan  (aka: ICC) is CCI's approach for managing a position of index ETFs and related covered calls.  The most recent trade against this plan is described below.  A reader can find details about the rational and management of the trades at the ICC trading plan tab on CCI's home page. 


 UNDERLYING ETF: EEM

 DESCRIPTION: iShares Emerging Market Shares 
 

TRANSACTION TYPE:    CCI harvested some option premium and re-establish the covered call position as described below.

TRANSACTION DATE: Wed 12/4/13 
 
Action: Buy to Close
Exp. Date: Dec,  6 2013
Strike: $42
Price: $.14
 
Action: Sell to Open  
Exp. Date: Dec. 13, 2013 (one weeks out
Strike: $42
Price: $.33

Net Debit: $.18 after commissions

Monday, December 2, 2013

Pause in the Rise of Small Caps Provides an Opportunity to Reposition Covered Calls

The Index Covered Call Trading Plan  (aka: ICC) is CCI's approach for managing a position of index ETFs and related covered calls.  The most recent trade against this plan is described below.  A reader can find details about the rational and management of the trades at the ICC trading plan tab on CCI's home page. 

UNDERLYING ETF:  IWM


DESCRIPTION: iShares Russell 2000
 
TRANSACTION TYPE: Roll Out and Up
Small Cap stocks finally paused its upward climb today and CCI repositioned the IWM covered call position as described below.
 
TRANSACTION DATE: Dec. 2 
Action: Buy to close
Exp. Date: Dec. 6,  2013
Strike: $110
Price: $2.96
 
Action: Sell to Open
Exp. Date: Dec. 13, 2013 (out one week(
Strike: $113
Price: $1.09

Net Debit/Contract after commissions: $1.96 

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Rolled EEM Calls.......Again

The Index Covered Call Trading Plan  (aka: ICC) is CCI's approach for managing a position of index ETFs and related covered calls.  The most recent trade against this plan is described below.  A reader can find details about the rational and management of the trades at the ICC trading plan tab on CCI's home page. 


 UNDERLYING ETF: EEM  

 DESCRIPTION: iShares Emerging Market Shares 
 
TRANSACTION TYPE:    CCI harvested some option premium and re-establish the covered call position as described below.
 
TRANSACTION DATE: Thur 11/25/13 
 
Action: Buy to Close
Exp. Date: Nov.  29, 2013
Strike: $42
Price: $.14
 
Action: Sell to Open  
Exp. Date: Dec. 6, 2013 (one weeks out
Strike: $42
Price: $.36
 
Net Debit: $.22 after commissions

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Re-established Covered Call in Emerging Market ETF (EEM)

The Index Covered Call Trading Plan  (aka: ICC) is CCI's approach for managing a position of index ETFs and related covered calls.  The most recent trade against this plan is described below.  A reader can find details about the rational and management of the trades at the ICC trading plan tab on CCI's home page. 

 UNDERLYING ETF: EEM  

 DESCRIPTION: iShares Emerging Market Shares 
 
TRANSACTION TYPE:   The emerging market ETF (EEM) stopped its recent downward slide today, and CCI used that move to harvest option premium and re-establish the covered call position as described below.
 
TRANSACTION DATE: Thur 11/14/13 
 
Action: Buy to Close
Exp. Date: Nov.  16, 2013
Strike: $44
Price: $.01
 
Action: Sell to Open  
Exp. Date: Nov. 29, 2013 (two weeks out
Strike: $42
Price: $.25
 
Net Debit: $.23 after commissions

Monday, November 11, 2013

Re-establish Short Call in C

As discussed here CCI has a long position in the financial sector etf (xlf) via the Jan 15 $10 Call, that has usually been hedged via a shorter duration short call in Citigroup (C).

With financial stocks rising, CCI decided to re-establish a short call in Citigroup as a hedge against the long. leveraged position in XLF held in the portfolio. Specifically,  with C pushing through $50, CCI sold the Dec  21 $52.50 call at $.44

Since inception on Jan 8, the performance of various potential holdings as of the time of this trade are shown below:
  • The XLF etf  continues its excellent performance up 23.2%! That is comprised of 21.9% unrealized  cap gain, and 1.3% in dividends.
  • The leverage obtained by instead simply holding the Jan 15 $10 call has generated and unrealized, leveraged, capital gain of 53.7%.  (leverage is great when it works!!!)
  • The leveraged, long/short strategy defined in this thread is up 49.7%. That is comprised of 36.6% in unrealized leveraged capital gains, 13.1% in realized option premium.  The short call position described in this post provides about a 4.7% hedge/option premium opportunity. 
Note: C reported earnings and they did not seem to push the stock higher. This reduces the volatility/risk of the short call. As the price of the option decays look for CCI to close or roll this position relatively soon.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Rolled Small Cap Covered Call Out & Down

The Index Covered Call Trading Plan  (aka: ICC) is CCI's approach for managing a position of index ETFs and related covered calls.  The most recent trade against this plan is described below.  A reader can find details about the rational and management of the trades at the ICC trading plan tab on CCI's home page. 

UNDERLYING ETF:  IWM


DESCRIPTION: iShares Russell 2000
 
TRANSACTION TYPE: Roll Out and Down
Small cap stocks stopped their torrid pace recently and CCI was finally able to harvest some option premium as described below.
 
TRANSACTION DATE: Fri, Nov 18
Action: Buy to close
Exp. Date: Nov. 16,  2013
Strike: $112
Price: $.04
 
Action: Sell to Open
Exp. Date: Dec 6, 2013
Strike: $110
Price: $.86

Net Credit/Contract after commissions: $.81