I’ve written many articles highlighting the advantages options trading and how this technique, when deployed in opportunistic or conservative scenarios may augment overall portfolio returns while mitigating risk in a meaningful manner. Options trading in layman’s terms can be described as a parallel to owning a rental property. One owns an asset that he is willing to leverage in the form of a tenant occupying his home for monthly rent. In the case of options trading, one owns shares and he is willing “leverage” these shares for “rent” or in the case of options, a premium. In this scenario, the owner of the home gives the tenant the option to buy the property or rent to own if he/she desires prior to a specified date. For the owner of the stock, he is providing the option to buy the underlying security at a specified price on or before a specified date. From the renter’s perspective, if the home value is increasing and the housing market is strong and on an uptrend, the renter would exercise this option and elect to buy the home. In the case of options trading, the renter of the stock would exercise the option to buy the shares if the shares rise significantly and lock in the lower, agreed-upon price. In the housing scenario, the renter elected to have the option to buy however didn’t have the obligation to purchase the home. The tenant witnessed home values increasing and decided to exercise the option to buy and capitalize on the rent he was already paying into the property. For the renter of the stock, the renter had the option to buy the underlying shares however he didn’t have the obligation to purchase these shares. The renter of the shares witnessed the stock take off and decided to exercise the option to buy and capitalize on the “rent” he had already paid into the option contract. As the owner of the property/stock, the ideal scenario is to own the property/stock and continuously collect rent/premiums on a monthly basis without relinquishing the property/stock. I will provide an overview of my empirical case study based on my options activity during Q2 2016 (Table 1). Here, I’ll provide details focusing on optimizing stock leverage via covered calls. Emphasizing the ability to sell these types of options in an opportunistic, aggressive and disciplined manner to generate liquidity while accentuating returns and mitigating risk via empirical data. Continue reading "Supercharging Portfolio Returns - Empirical Options Data"
