Basic Training: The Wheel Trade

A great trade for novice options traders. Our friends at RCM call this the "triple income trade" or "the wheel of fun."

What is it? Write a put to get long equity, then immediately write a call to sell equity. When should you use it? When should you not use it?

This is a great way to add some extra bang to your covered call trades.

Mail Call: Fabulous questions, insightful answers.

• Question from Bit Tim: You recommend closing out your shorts when they go your way. Do you advise factoring the closing price of the trade in to your calculations when writing options? For example - write a put for $.30, but know at the onset that you will only collect $.25, because you will close it out for $.05. If more people did that at the outset, they might be less reluctant to close out their winner for a profit.
• Question from Jack - I know you guys are not tax advisors, and so nothing you say can be taken as certain in any answer to this question. I am a small time trader, and at the moment cannot afford a CPA with trading expertise in options to do my taxes. So I am wondering if you can talk about the potential tax consequences of front spreads, especially when used as covered call replacements? I have had good success with this strategy, and I would like to move it into my margin account this year, instead of just using it in the IRA to avoid the tax headache.
• Question from Alejandro Garcia, NYC - Given Wang's experience in the Chinese market, I would be interested to hear John's take on the impending launch of listed options in China in April. Does he think it will be a success? What will the popular strats will be with Chinese options traders?