Trading Weekly Options on a 4-Day Trading Week – January 29, 2024
Can we generate meaningful returns writing covered calls or selling cash-secured puts on a 4-day, holiday-shortened trading week? The answer is a resounding yes. This article will focus on a real-life example with PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM), starting the day after Labor Day, 9/ 5/2023 through 9/8/2023. This security was an eligible security on our Premium Stock Report dated 9/1/2023.
Bullish price chart of PHM
Aside from an overall market decline in August 2023, PHM had been on a bullish tear since November 2022.
PHM option-chain on 9/5/2023
- PHM was trading at $82.63
- The OTM $84.00 call had a bid price of $0.55 (brown cells)
- The OTM $81.00 put had a bid price $0.50 (yellow cells)
- Both options had a 4-day expiration on 9/8/2023
- Both options had adequate liquidity (open interest- purple cells)
PHM call calculations with the BCI Trade Management Calculator (TMC)
- The Trade Management Calculator shows a 4-day trade if taken through expiration (red circle)
- The breakeven price point is $82.08 (yellow cell)
- The 4-day initial time-value return is 0.67% (brown cell)
- This annualizes to 34.84% for 52 x 4-day trades
PHM put calculations with the BCI Trade Management Calculator (TMC)
- The Trade Management Calculator shows a 4-day trade if taken through expiration (red circle)
- The breakeven price point is $80.50 (yellow cell)
- The 4-day initial time-value return is 0.62% (brown cell)
- This annualizes to 32.24% for 52 x 4-day trades
Discussion
When holidays result in 4-day trading weeks, it is still likely that we can generate meaningful returns using weekly expirations. This applies to both calls and puts. The BCI Trade Management Calculator (TMC) is extremely useful in analyzing initial trade results and can be used to adjust and manage trades as well (not shown in this article).
Author: Alan Ellman