The covered call: stock plus a short call, or a short put. The term covered means that the stock covers the inherent obligation assumed in writing the call. Why would you write a covered call? You feel the stock’s price will not go up any time soon, and you want to increase your income by collecting some call option premiums. To add some insurance that the stock won’t get called away, the call writer can write out-of-the money calls. You should know that this strategy for enhancing one’s income is not without risk. The call writer is trading the stock’s upside potential for the call premium. The desirability of writing a covered call to enhance income depends upon the chance that the stock price will exceed the exercise price at which the trader writes the call. This is similar reasoning to selling (or going short) a put. A put is in-the-money when the exercise price is above the stock price. Since the seller of a put prefers that the buyer just pay the premium and never exercise, the seller wants the price of the stock to remain above the exercise price. |
