Covered Call

What is a Covered Call? How do you make a monthly income from Covered Calls?

Covered Call - Definition

An options trading strategy which seeks to make a monthly income by selling call options against existing stock holdings.

Covered Call - Introduction

How would you like to collect "rent" on your stocks so that even if the price of your stock remains stagnant, you make a profit?

How would you like your account value to be protected even if the price of your stock retreats slightly?

Enters the Covered Call options strategy! The Covered Call, also known as a Covered Buy Write or Covered Call Write, is the classic of classics in options trading. This is the options trading strategy that most beginners learn about and is also the options trading strategy most widely taught.

The Covered Call allows you to make a monthly "rental" return on your current stock portfolio, allowing you to make a monthly, or even weekly, income even when the price of your stocks stay stagnant! The Covered Call can also be used to protect against a short term drop in stock price. So, not only are you going to be collecting money even if the stock price goes no where, you are actually also going to be protected in case the stock price retreats! Sounds too good to even be legal isn't it? That's the perfectly legal power of options trading using Covered Calls. All these characteristics made the Covered Call an extremely useful option trading strategy especially in the unique market condition of 2022 where the greatest bull market run is still underway! Yes, the Covered Call is definitely a must learn options strategy in 2022 for anyone who holds long term stock positions.

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When To Use Covered Call?

One should use a covered call when one wishes to hold on to one's stagnant stock while making a monthly income from it. One can also use a covered call to protect one's equity when the stock goes into a slight correction .

How To Use Covered Call?

A Covered Call consists simply of writing 1 contract of out of the money call options for every 100 shares of the underlying stock owned.

Buy 100 Shares + Sell 1 OTM Call

It could actually be executed in 3 ways; Simultaneous Order, Stock Protection or Short Covering.

Simultaneous order means that you buy the shares and write the OTM calls simultaneously.

Covered Call - Simultaneous Order example : Assuming QQQQ is trading at $44 now. You buy 700 shares of QQQQ at $44 and simultaneously Sell To Open 7 contracts of QQQQ Jan45Call.

You could also perform Covered Call on as little as 10 shares using "Mini Options".

Stock protection means writing out of the money call options on stocks that you already own and you wish to hedge it against a slight correction.

Covered Call - Stock Protection example : Assuming you previously bought 700 QQQQ shares at $43 and QQQQ is trading at $44 now. You expect the QQQQ to pullback slightly and wish to protect it. Sell To Open 7 contracts of QQQQ Jan45Call.

Short Covering means covering your short out of the money call options positions by buying the underlying stock, transforming the naked call write into a Covered Call.

Covered Call - Short Covering example : Assuming you previously wrote 7 contracts of QQQQ Jan45Call and you are expecting the QQQQ to rise slightly in the near future and wish to hedge against that rise. You can buy 700 shares of QQQQ stocks and transform the position into a Covered Call position.

You can find free videos on how these orders are made at the end of the page.

Which Strike Price To Write the Call Options On?

This is a common question asked by covered call beginners when confronted with the huge range of choice of options available in an options chain.

The further out of the money the call options are written, the more room there is for the stock to go upwards but the lower the premium received from the call options themselves. The effect is that the maximum profit potential rises (Assigned Return) but the profit received if the stock remains stagnant (the Static Return) as well as the protection received when the stock goes down becomes lesser.

The nearer the money the call options are written, the lesser room there is for the stock to go upwards but the higher the premium received from the call options themselves. The effect is that the maximum profit potential decreases but the profit received if the stock remains stagnant as well as the protection received when the stock goes down becomes higher.

Yes, there is no free lunch in options trading and options trading is all about trade-offs between profitability and risk. As such, your outlook on the performance of the stock is pivotal in deciding which strike price works best. If you expect the stock to go up significantly, you would write further out of the money call options while if you expect the stock go still go up only very slightly or not at all, you might decide to write just slightly out of the money call options or even at the money call options. A popular method used in options trading is to write the call options on the price you expect the stock to peak at.

Lets compare the effects of writing slightly out of the money call options and further out of the money call options.

Covered Call example : Assuming QQQQ is trading at $44 now. Assuming its Jan45Call is bidding at $1.50 and its Jan48Call is bidding at $0.30. You own 700 shares of QQQQ. Writing Slightly Out Of The Money Call Options You write 7 contracts of Jan45Call. Maximum profit = ($1.50 x 700) + ($1 x 700) = $1750 Static Return = $1.50 x 700 = $1050 Maximum Downside Protection = $1.50 Writing Far Out Of The Money Call Options You write 7 contracts of Jan48Call. Maximum profit = ($0.30 x 700) + ($4 x 700) = $3010 Static Return = $0.30 x 700 = $210 Maximum Downside Protection = $0.30

In fact, you could even write Covered Calls using deep in the money options, known as the Deep In The Money Covered Call.

Which Expiration Date To Write the Call Options On?

Unless you have a strong reason to do otherwise, the practise in options trading for covered call writing is to write the nearest month options so as they expire fastest, putting time decay in your favor. These days, in 2017, there are weekly options available as well, so you could even write Covered Calls on call options expiring as soon as a week in order to put the full benefit of time decay in your favor. However, that would also mean more trades in a month, as you would have to write those call options 4 times a month, which means more commissions involved and therefore lower potential profit than simply writing a monthly option and holding it for a month. You need to figure out which works best for your situation.

Who Would Buy Such a Call Option From Me?

Very good question! Who would buy from you the rights to buy your stocks at a HIGHER price than it is? Why won't that options trader simply buy the stock at the current price and hold on since that options trader is obviously bullish on the underlying stock or he or she won't be buying call options, right?

Well, the good news is, there is no lack of punters in the options market. As these "out of the money" call options are relatively cheap compared to buying the stock outright, they can return a very high return on investment if they win the bet and the price of the underlying stock rallies beyond the strike price of the call options that they bought from you. That's what they are betting on when they purchase this "lottery ticket" from you for cheap. This is also why the Covered Call is one options strategy you want to use only when you expect the price of your stock to go largely sideways within a limited up and down price range because if the price of the stock rallies beyond the strike price of the call options you sold to the "punters", they will exercise the right to buy your stock at the strike price of the call options.

Furthermore, an even better news is this, you are not actually selling those call options to another options trader down the street just like yourself. You are really selling it to who are known as "Market Makers" who are institutions charged with the responsibilty to ensure liquidity for all options contracts listed in the options market.

Trading Level Required For Covered Call

A Level 1 options trading account that allows the execution of Covered Call and Protective Put is needed. Read more about Options Account Trading Levels.

Profit Potential of Covered Call :

The Covered Call's maximum profit occurs when the stock closes exactly at the strike price of the short call options at expiration of the short call options.

Such an ideal situation is, of course, rare. In most cases, the short call options will either be in the money or out of the money at expiration.

When your stock is stagnant or slightly higher upon expiration of the short call options, you will profit on the whole value of the call options that you wrote, with whatever profit from the stock if it is up slightly.

When your stock rises beyond the strike price of the short call options upon expiration, your stocks will be called off (assigned) and you will profit from the value of the call options that you wrote and the value of the stock appreciation up till the strike price of the short call options. That is to say, you will not benefit from any rise in your stock beyond the strike price of the short call options due to the short call options going in the money.

Profit Calculation of Covered Call:

As mentioned above, there are 3 different ways to look at a Covered Call's profit and they are known as; Static Return, Assigned Return and Expired Return.

Static return is the profit that a covered call generates if the stock remains totally stagnant. It is really a simple function of the amount of premium received versus the price of the stock itself. Assigned return is the maximum profit that a covered call is capable of generating which happens when the stock rises to or beyond the strike price of the short call options, triggering an assignment and get called away. Expired return is simply calculating the amount of profit if the stock rises but fails to exceed the strike price of the short call options. In options trading, covered call traders typically compare the Static and Assigned return prior to execution in order to decide if a covered call is worth trading for a certain stock and also to help them decide which strike price to write the call options on.


1. Static Return

Static Return = Premium of Call Options Written / Price of Stock

Covered Call Static Return Assuming you bought 700 QQQQ shares at $44 and sold 7 contracts of QQQQ Jan45Call for $1.00. Static Return = $1.00 / $44 = 2.2%

2. Assigned Return

Assigned Return = ((strike price of short call options - Price of stock) + initial price of short call options) / Price of stock

Covered Call Assigned Return Assuming you bought 700 QQQQ shares at $44 and sold 7 contracts of QQQQ Jan45Call for $1.00. Assigned Return = (($45 - $44) + $1) / $44 = 4.5%

3. Expired Return

Expired Return = ((Stock price at expiration - Initial stock price) + initial price of short call options) / Initial price of stock

Covered Call Expired Return Assuming you bought 700 QQQQ shares at $44 and sold 7 contracts of QQQQ Jan45Call for $1.00. QQQQ rises to $44.50 upon expiration. Expired Return = (($44.50 - $44) + $1) / $44 = 3.4%

Risk / Reward of Covered Call:

Upside Maximum Profit: Limited

Maximum Loss: Unlimited

Break Even Point of Covered Call:

There are 2 ways to look at breakeven point for a covered call.

1. As the Covered Call profits mainly from the decay of the short out of the money call options, the main way to look at breakeven is the number of days it takes for the decay of the short call options covers its bid/ask spread.

Stagnant Breakeven point = Bid ask spread / theta

Assuming the ask price is $1.00 and bid price is $1.05 with a theta of -0.012. Stagnant Breakeven Point = ($0.05 / 0.012) = approximately 4 days.

2. The lower breakeven point to find out how much the underlying stock can fall before you start making real losses to your account value.

Lower Breakeven point = Initial Value of Short Call Options - Initial Value of underlying stock

Assuming you bought 700 QQQQ close at $44 and sold 7 contracts of QQQQ Jan45Call for $1.00. Lower Breakeven Point = ($1.00 - $44) = $43.00

Advantages Of Covered Call:

:: Able to profit even if your stock stays stagnant.

:: Able to offset losses if your stock drops in value.

:: No margin required for writing call options.

Disadvantages Of Covered Call:

:: You must continue to hold your stocks if you want to keep the short call options.

:: You can lose your stocks if it rises beyond the strike price of the short call options through assignment at expiration.

Adjustments for Covered Calls Before Expiration :

1. If you wish to keep your stocks when it has gained in price beyond the strike price of the short call options, you could buy back the short call options before it expires and allow the stock to continue its profit run.

2. In addition to keeping your stocks using the action above, you could also use the excess money after the buy back to buy put options at the money in order to protect the current profits of the stock. This is known as a Protective Put.

3. If your stocks are up way before expiration and is losing upside momentum, you could buy an equal amount of put options at the money as you have short call options. This forms an options trading strategy called the Collar.

Questions Concerning Covered Calls

"Is Margin Needed for Covered Call?" asked by Tony

"How Do I Keep My Covered Call Stock From Assignment?" asked by Geoffrey

"Is Covered Call The Safest?" asked by Apurva

"What Happens To My Covered Call On Citigroup?" asked by Farzin

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