EDUCATION: EMULATING YIELD VIA SHORT PUT
Over time, my basic approach to my IRA has been to acquire shares at substantial discounts over time and to take advantage of "the three legs": (1) short call premium; (2) dividends; and (3) growth, with the eventual goal to be able to solely or predominantly rely on dividends post-retirement, since "growth" can periodically be elusive and short call premium collection on covered calls can vary widely, depending on movement of the underlying, implied volatility, and one's degree of "aggression."*
Typically, this has involved selling puts as an "acquire lower" strategy, followed by share assignment, and then covering. However, as we all know, getting into stock at a particular price results in a less than agile setup. After all -- and regardless of whether you buy stocks outright or are assigned them -- once you're in stock, you're in at the price you bought or were assigned, and there's no amount of magic wand waving that will change the price at which you acquired, even if you shed tears and get buyer's remorse later.
In comparison, staying in options as long as possible affords you greater flexibility as to potential acquisition price since you can roll for credit and therefore cost basis reduction before your getting full on into the shares. Relatedly, you can essentially "manipulate" the potential share price at which you're assigned by rolling the short puts down and out if you become unhappy with the strike at which you sold originally.
All that having been said, what if I want to emulate dividend yield in the shares while I wait to get assigned at a discount? Well, there's a way to do that -- with short puts.
Pictured here is an EEM June 19th '20 36 short put, paying .97 at the mid, with delta/theta metrics of 18/.36. 328 days out in time, it's the expiry nearest 365 days 'til expiry, and the delta'd strike (~18) that will pay something approximating the annualized dividend of $90.** In other words, this isn't the actual trade you'd put on to emulate dividend yield (although absolutely nothing prevents you from doing that), but rather a guide to tell you what delta and/or theta you'd need to sell in shorter duration to emulate the amount of annualized dividend.
In this particular case, selling the September 20th 40 short put*** would potentially fit that bill. Paying a .30 credit, it has delta/theta metrics of 17.29/.69 with a theta burn nearly twice that of the longer-dated 36, with the downside being that the strike is obviously much closer to current price than the 18 delta sold out in time. However, the theta metric makes it conceivable that you could collect what amounts to the annual premium of .90 in three to four expiry cycles as compared to 12, assuming that the underlying goes sideways, up, or even down to a certain degree during your credit collection/divvy generation emulation process.
Post fill, look to roll at extrinsic approaching worthless from the ~18 delta to an ~18 delta strike in an expiry that will pay a credit, aiming to collect at least .25 with any given roll. If you're not able to get at least .25 on a roll to a similarly delta'd strike without going out an absurd amount of time, consider rolling down and out more incrementally.
Naturally, this begs the question of whether and under what circumstances it's worth being in stock versus short puts since you can emulate not only dividends, but also growth with short puts ... . But I'll leave that discussion for another day.
* -- By "aggression," I mean what delta you're willing to sell as cover (i.e., 20 versus 30 versus 40 versus at-the-monied or even monied).
** -- The annual yield in EEM isn't great -- 2.08%, so I'm primarily using it as an example due to its excellent liquidity and market tightness in the off hours.
*** -- Naturally, this is best done on weakness or in a higher implied volatility environment. EEM's at 7/16 here, so you're consequently not getting a ton of juice out of the 18 delta.
Typically, this has involved selling puts as an "acquire lower" strategy, followed by share assignment, and then covering. However, as we all know, getting into stock at a particular price results in a less than agile setup. After all -- and regardless of whether you buy stocks outright or are assigned them -- once you're in stock, you're in at the price you bought or were assigned, and there's no amount of magic wand waving that will change the price at which you acquired, even if you shed tears and get buyer's remorse later.
In comparison, staying in options as long as possible affords you greater flexibility as to potential acquisition price since you can roll for credit and therefore cost basis reduction before your getting full on into the shares. Relatedly, you can essentially "manipulate" the potential share price at which you're assigned by rolling the short puts down and out if you become unhappy with the strike at which you sold originally.
All that having been said, what if I want to emulate dividend yield in the shares while I wait to get assigned at a discount? Well, there's a way to do that -- with short puts.
Pictured here is an EEM June 19th '20 36 short put, paying .97 at the mid, with delta/theta metrics of 18/.36. 328 days out in time, it's the expiry nearest 365 days 'til expiry, and the delta'd strike (~18) that will pay something approximating the annualized dividend of $90.** In other words, this isn't the actual trade you'd put on to emulate dividend yield (although absolutely nothing prevents you from doing that), but rather a guide to tell you what delta and/or theta you'd need to sell in shorter duration to emulate the amount of annualized dividend.
In this particular case, selling the September 20th 40 short put*** would potentially fit that bill. Paying a .30 credit, it has delta/theta metrics of 17.29/.69 with a theta burn nearly twice that of the longer-dated 36, with the downside being that the strike is obviously much closer to current price than the 18 delta sold out in time. However, the theta metric makes it conceivable that you could collect what amounts to the annual premium of .90 in three to four expiry cycles as compared to 12, assuming that the underlying goes sideways, up, or even down to a certain degree during your credit collection/divvy generation emulation process.
Post fill, look to roll at extrinsic approaching worthless from the ~18 delta to an ~18 delta strike in an expiry that will pay a credit, aiming to collect at least .25 with any given roll. If you're not able to get at least .25 on a roll to a similarly delta'd strike without going out an absurd amount of time, consider rolling down and out more incrementally.
Naturally, this begs the question of whether and under what circumstances it's worth being in stock versus short puts since you can emulate not only dividends, but also growth with short puts ... . But I'll leave that discussion for another day.
* -- By "aggression," I mean what delta you're willing to sell as cover (i.e., 20 versus 30 versus 40 versus at-the-monied or even monied).
** -- The annual yield in EEM isn't great -- 2.08%, so I'm primarily using it as an example due to its excellent liquidity and market tightness in the off hours.
*** -- Naturally, this is best done on weakness or in a higher implied volatility environment. EEM's at 7/16 here, so you're consequently not getting a ton of juice out of the 18 delta.
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