The most popular options income strategy in the world. You already own a stock — you sell a call against it and pocket the premium. If the stock stays flat, you keep everything. If it rises past the strike, you sell at a price you were happy with.
Own 100 shares. Sell one call. Collect premium. Repeat monthly.
That’s it. Covered calls turn stocks you hold anyway into an income-producing asset. The trade-off: you cap your upside if the stock rockets.
Because you own the stock. If the buyer of your call exercises, you already have the shares to deliver. No unlimited risk. Compare this to naked call writing (Chapter 5) — much more dangerous.
Reliance is at ₹3,000. You own 250 shares (1 lot). You sell 1 Reliance 3,100 CALL expiring end of the month for a premium of ₹40 per share.
Premium collected: ₹40 × 250 = ₹10,000 (cash in your account today)
Three scenarios at expiry:
A) Reliance closes at ₹2,950: Call expires worthless. You keep the ₹10,000 premium AND still own the shares. The premium cushions the ₹50/share loss (₹12,500 total) — net position down only ₹2,500.
B) Reliance closes at ₹3,050 (unchanged region): Call still expires worthless. Keep ₹10,000. Stock up ₹50 × 250 = ₹12,500. Total gain: ₹22,500.
C) Reliance closes at ₹3,200: Call is ITM by ₹100. You’re assigned — shares called away at ₹3,100. You made ₹100/share on the stock (₹25,000) + kept the ₹10,000 premium = ₹35,000 total. But you missed the extra ₹100/share the stock actually gained.
Maximum profit = (Strike − Stock buy price) × Lot size + Premium collected
Downside break-even = Stock buy price − (Premium ÷ Lot size)
Profit if unchanged = Premium collected
For the Reliance example above:
Covered calls win when the stock:
Covered calls lose vs holding when the stock:
Even if the stock stays exactly flat for a year and you write monthly calls at ₹40 each, that’s ₹40 × 12 × 250 = ₹1,20,000 in premium on a ₹7,50,000 position — a 16% annual “yield” on a stock that did nothing.
Three flavors, ranked from most conservative to most aggressive:
| Strike choice | Premium | Downside protection | Upside | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITM (Deep, ~5% below spot) | Highest | Best (big cushion) | Almost none | Neutral-to-bearish, want income |
| ATM (near spot) | High | Moderate | Little | Neutral, balanced approach |
| OTM (~3–5% above spot) | Lower | Small | Room to run | Mildly bullish, want some upside |
Most retail investors use OTM covered calls — typically 2–5% above spot. You keep the premium AND get some upside if the stock rallies gently.
Say you sold the Reliance 3,100 call for ₹40, and now Reliance is at 3,180 with a week to expiry. The call is now worth ₹100 (₹80 intrinsic + ₹20 time value). Options:
McMillan’s rule: only roll for a credit. If you can’t net a positive premium by rolling, just close.
Indian stock options settle physically. If you’re assigned, you deliver actual shares. Make sure you have the shares in your demat when writing calls, and be aware of the assignment risk in the last week of expiry.
Best candidates: Large-cap dividend payers you’d hold anyway.
Timeline: Sell 30-40 day OTM calls, ~3-5% above spot, on the Monday after monthly expiry. Close/roll one week before next expiry.
Realistic yield: 1-2% per month on portfolio value in flat markets. Less if the stock rallies past strike (you win on stock instead).
Open the payoff calculator, load “Covered call”, set spot to 3,000, strike to 3,100, premium to 40, lot size to 250. Adjust spot to see how P&L changes with the underlying.