Also known as a naked call, selling the short call obligates you to sell stock at strike price A if the option is assigned. When running this strategy, you want the call you sell to expire worthless. That’s why most investors sell out-of-the-money options.

This strategy has a low profit potential if the stock remains below strike A at expiration, but unlimited potential risk if the stock goes up. The reason some traders run this strategy is that there is a high probability for success when selling very out-of-the-money options. If the market moves against you, then you must have a stop-loss plan in place. Keep a watchful eye on this strategy as it unfolds.

 

Maximum Potential Profit

Potential profit is limited to the premium received for selling the call. If the stock keeps rising above strike A, you keep losing money.

 

Maximum Potential Loss

Risk is theoretically unlimited. If the stock keeps rising, you keep losing money. You may lose some hair as well. So hold on to your hat and stick to your stop-loss if the trade doesn’t go your way.

 

Break-even at Expiration

Strike A plus the premium received for the call.

 

Credence Global Bank Invest Margin Requirements

Margin requirement is the greater of the following:

  • 30% of the underlying security value minus the out-of-the-money amount (if any), plus the premium received
  • OR 15% of the underlying security value plus the premium received

NOTE: The premium received from establishing the short call may be applied to the initial margin requirement.

After this position is established, an ongoing maintenance margin requirement may apply. That means depending on how the underlying performs, an increase (or decrease) in the required margin is possible. Keep in mind this requirement is subject to change and is on a per-contract basis. So don’t forget to multiply by the total number of contracts when you’re doing the math.

Also be sure you’re checking the most up-to-date source for margin requirements — With Credence Global Bank Invest, you can find the most recent requirements on the Margin Account Details page. There you’ll find a chart outlining margin requirements for naked calls, as well as other securities.

 

Time Decay

For this strategy, time decay is your friend. You want the price of the option you sold to approach zero. That means if you choose to close your position before expiration, it will be less expensive to buy it back.

 

Implied Volatility

After the strategy is established, you want implied volatility to decrease. That will decrease the price of the option you sold, so if you choose to close your position before expiration it will be less expensive to do so.

 

Final Thought

You may wish to consider ensuring that strike A is around one standard deviation out-of-the-money at initiation. That will increase your probability of success. However, the higher the strike price, the lower the premium received from this strategy.

Some investors may wish to run this strategy using index options rather than options on individual stocks. That’s because historically, indexes have not been as volatile as individual stocks. Fluctuations in an index’s component stock prices tend to cancel one another out, lessening the volatility of the index as a whole.

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