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NaughtyPines
Feb 25, 2018 7:17 PM

TRADE IDEA: OIH JULY 20TH 19 LONG/APRIL 20TH 26 SHORT CALL Long

VanEck Oil Services ETFArca

Description

This is a Poor Man's Covered Call, with the 90 delta July long call standing in as your stock, and the April 20th 26 short call functioning as it would in a covered call situation. Your max loss is the difference between what you paid for the long (currently 6.28 at the mid) minus what you received for the short call (currently .69 at the mid). Consequently, you pay a debit for this setup: 6.28 minus .69 or 5.59/contract. 5.59 is the max you can lose if you (a) do nothing with the setup; and (b) both the short and longs go to worthless on a finish of the underlying below the long strike at 19. 5.59 is also your cost basis in the long option.

Look to exit the trade at 10-20% of what you put it on for (i.e., for a $56-$112 profit). This will occur along a neutral to bullish spectrum if either (a) price doesn't move much from here such that the intrinsic value in the long does not change appreciably over time and the short call value dwindles to worthless to (b) price shooting up and through your short call, at which point further increases in value of the long are offset by further increases in the value of the short, thus capping out further gains in the same fashion as would occur with a covered call. On break of the short call, wait toward expiry for the most of the extrinsic to bleed out of the short and then exit the trade as opposed to attempting to roll out the short call and/or strike improve. If the setup still has a "good look," re-up with a totally new Poor Man's.

Intratrade, generally roll the short call out for duration and "as is" or to a similarly delta'd strike as the original short call on significant decrease in value (ordinarily, at 50% max). In the unfortunate event that this is no longer productive because price has pulled away from the short call too much, consider rolling the short call down to a reasonably delta'd strike (i.e., between the 20 and 30) while keeping an eye on your cost basis in the long in an attempt to ensure that it is always less than its current value.

Comment

Sometimes things look "better on paper" than when you go to actually trade them. The bid/ask on that July long call ain't great (.35 wide between bid and ask), so some price discovery would be required so that you don't pay more for the long than necessary. The short's spread isn't nearly as ugly -- .03 wide when I checked ... .
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