A Put-Call Strategy

Occasionally while screening stocks on the weekend I come across a security with a relatively high beta that exhibits a lot of up and down movement in the short term but little if any movement in the long term. These two relative degrees of volatility can often be recognized by viewing volatility on the daily chart versus volatility on the weekly chart. When I identify a stock I would like to own that has these characteristics, I consider putting in place a strategy of entering and exiting the stock using puts and calls. Specifically I use cash secured puts and covered calls. It's a cash intensive strategy but it's also a very lucrative strategy. 

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The gist of the strategy is simple. First I always identify a stock that I wouldn't mind owning just in case the strategy doesn't work and I end up owning the security. This step is important because I wouldn't want to end up buying a security I would not have wanted to buy outside this strategy. I would then use the daily and weekly charts to determine the stock's support and resistance areas. I would then sell cash secured puts at or just above the support level to collect the put premium and increase the probability of having the stock "put" to me. Once I own the stock, I'd sell covered calls on the stock at or just below resistance to collect the premium and increase the probability of having the stock "called" from me. 

In the full turn of the trade I would have collected a put premium, a call premium, and the capital gain on the security as it rose from the support level to the resistance level. If the stock continues to reverse up and down over time, this trade can be repeated over and over again. 

This is obviously a trading strategy and not an investing strategy. Investors that are not familiar with technical analysis, put and call options, or investors that are not nimble enough to trade in this type of timeframe, should not attempt this type of strategy. However, a trader that is, can make a nice income using this stately. I generally use the income generated using this strategy to buy dividend growth stocks, which is a much more conservative investing strategy.