Stock Market Savings

Damage Control

You can’t say that you have unlimited risk in selling puts because the lowest the stock can go is to zero. That is your downside. If the stock is below the strike price, it will get put to you.

You have one other strategy that can be played right up to and through the expiration date. It is called “rolling out.” Here’s the way it works. Let’s say the stock is at $46. Last month you sold the $50 put for $2.25 when the stock was at $48.50. You had hopes it would go up. It hasn’t. If you have to buy the stock, your basis will be $47.75, as you have received $2.25. One problem is the heavy duty amount of cash you’ll need to purchase the stock—even $25,000 on margin.

You think you could find a better use for the money. The put is currently $4.25—buy it back. Actually, you’re just purchasing the same put (strike price, month) as you sold. This will close the position—it’s a wash on your broker’s computer. If you had ten contracts, you would have lost a little over $2,000 after you add up the commissions. You could just end it here, but don’t. There’s another play.

Remember, you liked this company’s stock at this price. Check it out. Is the story line still in place? Yes, it didn’t go above the $50 like you planned—at least, not yet. If you still think it will do so, roll on out to the next month.

Let’s continue. Try to catch the stock on a dip—even if in a roll or slam in trading. Say it’s going between $46⁵/8 and $46^3/4. It occasionally drops to$46²/8. At that point sell the November $50 put. It’s going for $4.50. That’s $4,500. You’re back in the money again, and you’ve made a profit.

If you don’t think it will go above $4.50, look at the $45 put. It’s going for $2′/8, or $2,125. If you sold this you’d about break even on the original loss. Yes, you have an open position to buy the stock at $45, but your homework says it will go up.

Another method would be to split the contracts. Say, sell five of the $50 puts and five of the $45 puts. You should and could consider purchasing $45 or $50 calls. Maybe the $45s for November, and the $50s for February.

It keeps going down. Believe me, there will be an end to this—you will eventually make money. The next month the stock is at $44. Let’s stick with the $50 puts as that will be most drastic. You sold the November 50 puts for $4.25. It will cost $6.50 to buy them back. This purchase will throw you back in the loss column. Not by much, though.

You’re sure, this time, that the stock will turn around. It just has to (or so you hope). So spend the money—$6,500. Now the December $50 puts are going for $8 and the $45s are going for $2. Sell the $45 puts. You’re profitable again. Also, look at the $40s—there might be some premiums there.

Now the stock moves back up to $47. Your December $45 put expires worthless, and you’ve made over $2,000 for all this trouble.

This could go on several months—but sometime (hopefully) the stock will turn around. When it does, you end it and keep the best batch of each. When you buy back this month’s put, you can always sell the next month out for more money.

And Finally

There are two more considerations.

1.    You may want to consider only selling, or at least primarily selling out of the money puts, i.e. you sell the $50 put when the stock is at $52. This gives you a cushion. The problem is that the premiums are smaller and you have to weigh out the amount of margin tied up for the smaller option premium.

2.    Stick with stocks in the $5 to $25 range. Selling puts and writing calls have a lot of the same risk/reward features—only in reverse. If you want nice premi­ums on stocks which won’t kill you to buy, the lower priced stocks may work better.

Remember, when you sell you have many ways of making money (see “Tandem Plays”). When you buy call options or put options you only have one. This rolling out strategy lets you stay in the game until you make money.

It’s simple: you generate cash whether you have to perform or not. If you do have to buy the stock, you purchased it at a less expensive price than otherwise. I love selling puts because you get the best of both worlds—cash now and wholesale prices.

The only true hang-up to selling puts is that your broker will require cash on hand (in the money market part of your account) to cover your obligation. If you have a margin account, you’ll need to have around 30% of the amount needed to fulfill your obligation. If the stock is at $15, that’s between $3,000 and $5,000. The money market account will earn interest. If you have a lot of money in your account, they will be a little more lenient. They just want to make sure you can take care of your obligation to purchase the shares if you have to buy them.

The margin requirements for selling puts is actually 20%. Your broker will also hold the put premiums you’ve received (until the expiration date) minus any out of the money amount. It will come out around 25 to 35%. Other factors figure in, too. How many other stocks and options you own. How strong is your relationship? Each broker is different. Yes, they have strict SEC rules to follow, but they have their own concerns. The primary one being this: what is the exposure if there’s a major market downturn—say 30%? Can you purchase all you’ve requested to purchase, or is their neck on the line too? They will err on the side of caution.

Up until now we have been discussing selling uncovered puts. We don’t have a position in the underlying stock (as in writing covered calls). If you wanted to sell covered puts, you could, now or later, sell short the stock. You could generate cash, ride the stock on down, and when the stock falls in price (which is your risk in selling puts) you could cover your position by being short on the stock. If the stock gets put to you, it will cover (end) your short position.

Remember, you’ve agreed to buy stock you don’t own. Now you’ve borrowed stock you don’t own—you’re covered. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

Think of it this way. If you have to purchase the stock at $15, and your broker immediately sells 1,000 shares in a short sale, your obligation is covered. Now if there is a dip in the stock price, the stock you buy (at this lower wholesale price) will cover your short position.

This is a hedge. Now, let’s double hedge. You hedge a short sale by purchasing call options. If the stock is at $13 and you still think there will be an increase, buy a $15 call option. Now you have the right to buy the stock at $15. The risk of short selling is an increase in the stock price. With the $15 call options, you’ve purchased insurance.

If the last several paragraphs frustrate you, read them again, discuss them with your broker, and don’t worry too much. I’ve sold dozens and dozens of puts. I’ve only had to do short sales a couple of times. If you do your homework, and then sell the puts when the stock is way down and rising, you won’t have to worry about this.

Long before we purchase the stock, and along the way as it is rising, there are still other things we can do to take advantage of the “magnified movement” in the option price.

As the stock rises and gets close to the $15 strike price, the value of the put goes down. If it’s awhile before the expiration date and the option is going for 50cent, we could buy it back. What does this mean? We buy a $15 put for 50cent. Now we have the right to sell the stock at $15. The option costs $500 for ten contracts (plus commissions). You’re now creating a “wash” situation. You sold 10 puts, now you’ve just bought 10 puts and to your broker’s computer it’s a wash. They both go off the screen. You now have no obligation to perform.

You would only buy back the puts if there is plenty of time before the expiration date for the stock to go back down. If the stock is near $15 and climbing, or above $15 with a small chance for a significant decrease, don’t buy the put. Just wait for the option to expire and you get to keep the whole $2,000. Your profit, if you buy back the $15 put for 50cent ($500 for ten contracts) is $1,500. Don’t unnecessarily spend money you don’t have to. However, let’s keep going. What if there is still plenty of time before the expiration date and the stock has shown a lot of volatility? It’s at $15.50, the put options are 25cent, you spend $250 to buy them back. You have a clear profit of $1,750, minus commissions. Now, the stock falls back to $14. At this time the $15 puts are going for $1.25. You sell another ten put contracts and generate $1,250, then one of the following happens.

1. The stock stays down. Your basis is now $12 ($15 minus $3: $2 for the original put sold, minus 25cent for the put buy-back, plus $1.25; the selling of the second $15 put). That is a super wholesale price.

2.    The stock rises above $15. You get to keep the premiums and you have no further obligation.

3.    If there is still time to buy back the put again, try it again—repeat the process. Note: I’ve done two puts, but never three in one month. It’s possible, but highly unlikely. The stock would have to be really volatile, having a lot of quick movement. Look at the following charts and plays:

We sold puts at $15 and the stock went way up. We also had calls on this play.

A good cov­ered call stock can also be a good one for sell­ing puts. We sold the $10 puts, then the stock hit $19. Profit $1,000.

We sold the $15 puts. We ac­tually  got  the stock put to us, but I like this company  and don’t  mind owning   the stock.

Sell Call—Buy Put

Sell the call for $1.50 ($1,500 if you purchased ten con­tracts) buy the put for 25tf. Capitalize on each—depend­ing on the time left before expiration—at the optimum time. Buy back the call or let it expire and sell the put at a profit.

Once again, so many more opportunities open up when you sell than when you buy. Don’t misunderstand; I still make most of my money buying calls—on pure option plays. I try, however, to sell as many calls and puts as I can.

Remember, writing covered calls is a great strategy for IRA’s and other pension-type accounts.

Generating income, infinite returns, buying stock whole­sale, double-dipping with highly volatile stocks (selling two calls or puts in one month)—are just so much fun.

Now look at the following charts to see possibilities. I added arrows to show the buy and sell ranges.

Opposite

Buy a put, sell a call.

Sell a put, buy a call.

Look at how many opportu­nities a volatile, but upward-trending stock options.

And on and on…

Read the following example: you find a stock that is rolling, rising from $13 and bouncing off $16. It’s down to $13 and is rising quite rapidly. When it hits $13.50, you sell the $15 put for $2. Ten contracts equals $2,000. Nice cash flow.

Now, when the stock gets to $14.75, the put is going for 50g. You buy it back at a cost of $500. You get to keep the $1,500 with no further obligation. However, why not cross over and sell the $15 call? Do this when the stock is at $15.50 or $15.75. Yes, it might rise or stay above $15 and you’d have to buy the option back at a small loss, but the $15 premium could easily be $1 to $1.50—another $1,500 of income. Remember, check the charts. This one is moving rapidly. It may go under $15 and you’ll have a second premium—yours to keep. Now as it dips down and starts up, repeat the process.

True, when it’s above $15 and you think it’s going down you could do a pure $15 put purchase play. And yes, when it hits $12 or $13 you could do a pure $12.50 call or $15 call purchase play.

You could even do a double play.

1. Sell a $12.50 put and buy a call when the stock is at $13 when you believe it’s on the way up. The premium will be about the same. However, as the stock rises, the money you received for selling the put looks better because the put value goes down (remember, you sold it when it was nice and high). At the same time your call premium goes up in value. Sell the call now for a profit and keep the profit for selling the put, or even buy back the put while it’s low. Wow, I can’t wait for the market to open tomorrow. And yes, we can wax philosophical all day long—hey, if I have to potentially buy the stock at $15 and I’ve purchased the right to buy it at $15, what if it’s close? Your brain might catch on fire.

2. Sell a call and buy a put when you think a stock may go down a bit. This way you pick up the nice call premium. If you own the stock, you won’t get called out. The dip is offset by the rise in value of the put option premium. You can sell the put option at a profit.

If you don’t own the stock, you keep the premium for selling the call and then get to sell the put at a higher price when the stock goes down. This is a form of hedging, and what a hedge it is!

Now, don’t make this too complicated. You’ve read about rolling stocks and rolling options. You’ve heard me teach about peaks and valleys. You’ve heard of some straddles— buy a call and put on the same stock, same month, same strike prices, and wait for a big move either way. Well, I call this a side-straddle. A calculated, predictable way to capture the up movement, or the down movement—TWICE.

I cover this more extensively at the Next Step Wall Street Workshop. You’d be smart to be there. Call 1-800-872-7411. These seminars sell out, so call now. Note: the Next Step Wall Street Workshop is only available to Wall Street Workshop graduates, or people with more stock and option experience. Come to the “BBQ.”