Posted on July 20th, 2011 
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Covered Call strategy, which is a low risk way to earn income from a stock portfolio. The income is earned by writing options. Options are a leveraged investment where you can control a large number of shares with a minimal investment. Leverage allows the investor to obtain a higher rate of return on their investment. However, leverage also has some inherent risks.
As an investor you can buy options or you can write them. There are two types of options: calls and puts. A call option gives the buyer a right to buy one hundred shares of stock at a certain price for a limited period of time. A put option gives the buyer a right to sell one hundred shares of stock at a certain price for a limited period of time.
The price that you can either buy or sell the shares is called the strike price. The cost of the option is called the premium. Call option prices go up and down in tandem with the underlying shares of stock. Put option prices go up and down in the opposite direction of the underlying shares of stock.
If the owner of the option decides to exercise their option, the option writer will have to sell their shares of stock to holder of the option. This will incur a minimal loss. It is easy to see how this is a conservative investment approach for the option writer. There are ways of offsetting the deal to protect the option writer.
With leverage the investor has the potential to earn a higher rate of return on their investment. This is because they are only putting up a fraction of the full cost of the shares. The risk of using leverage is that the investor can be wiped out faster if there is an unexpected drop in share prices.
With leverage there is the possibility to make a greater rate of return on your investment. On the other side of the coin, a small price fluctuation can render your options worthless. For the writer of the calls options, the chances are that the option will never be exercised. If the price of the underlying stock does increase, the write of the option can always purchase an option to offset the transaction. This is what makes this such a safe investment.
When an investor has a large stock portfolio they can constantly be writing options to have a continuous flow of income. Since they already own the shares this is a relatively risk free income generating technique. Not all option techniques are as safe as this one is. There are very complex transactions that are put together by professional investors and hedge funds. The ordinary investor does have to concern themselves with these to earn a nice flow of income.
Using the covered call strategy is an easy and safe way to earn some income from a stock portfolio. Not all common stocks are listed on the option markets. For this reason, if you are interested in using this technique make sure the equities you buy are listed on the options exchange. A stock broker who specialises in options may be able to assist you.
