I ran a little experiment for about 8 months last year, did not post because I was not sure how it was going to work out but here is another easy to manage, high return tactic. I got this from options income blueprint. I do not subscribe to this particular branch of it, but easy to understand and I reverse engineered it using different names. They were using AAPL, LNG, and GILD.
It is called perpetual income engine. Very simple, take about 2-5 stocks that tend to stay in a range with good option premium. Start by selling a 1 week put either ATM or 1 strike below. It is either assigned or is not. If it is assigned immediately take delivery of the stock and then on Monday sell the ATM or 1 strike out of the money covered call. If not assigned, then sell the next week put. It is very easy to implement and does not take much time.
I used 3 tickers last year, TSO which has since become ANDV, XBI, and WDC. As I am starting to review my trades from last year for taxes, I see how effective it was. It takes a while to sort everything out but the results were impressive given the simplicity.
8 months, 3 contracts each name so only tying up about 50,000 of capital earned a 57.7% return. Annualized 86.55% return. Pretty impressive given the simplicity. Obviously I will keep this going and will start posting my trades now. They will be known as #pietrades.
I do not have all the numbers yet, but the last year appears that naked puts and strangle selling was the most effective, followed by PIE trades, and a very close third goes to #fuzzies based on return on capital. However the #fuzzies worked the best for recovery of positions that went really bad. Not surprisingly given the one-sided market credit spreads did not do as well last year.
I am always looking for the most efficient way to use capital, make money, and give me more free time. Based on these results I will probably focus on those 3 strategies most of this year and will add in the occasional #spycraft when the volatility is decent.
Options Bistro 