Seller's Paradise

Dividend Aristocrats (those S&P 500 companies that have raised dividends for 25 years in a row or more) often outperform during down markets, while keeping up with the overall market when it's rising.

Brian Bollinger of TheStreet has chosen 10 Aristocrats with an average dividend yield of 3% that he feels have the growth to continue raising dividends because they are operating strong and steady business models. To see the list, along with some covered call ideas, check out Top 10 Dividend Aristocrats.

When is the right time to write covered calls? Pretty much all the time, although some people attempt to time the market and optimize their call writing by comparing the option's expected volatility with its actual (or historic) volatility, and then only writing options when expected vol is higher than historic vol. Brad Zigler explains this for the symbol USO in his SeekingAlpha article here.

For those who have been patient AAPL shareholders this year, it is finally showing signs of strength, having closed last week at 107.48, almost 5% above where it started the year (after having spent most of the last 31 weeks underwater).

The 4 weekly covered call strategies on AAPL that Born To Sell is tracking are definitely lowering the volatility of owning AAPL. After 31 weeks of call writing, the two in-the-money strategies (12%/year return goal and 24%/year return goal) are within 1% of the YTD (year-to-date) return of Buy And Hold. However, they've done so with far less volatility. For full trade details see Apple Strategies Updated Aug 5, 2016

With two weeks to go until August's options expire, the top 4 covered calls Born To Sell members have written are (in order of popularity):

(Note: Born To Sell members have access to the full Top 10 Covered Call list, as well as having this list update real-time as members change positions. These are not recommendations, they are merely a reflection of our members' current positions.)

Currently, the top 8 stocks Born To Sell members are using for their Watchlist are (in order of popularity):

(Note: Born To Sell members have access to the full Top 20 Watchlist, as well as having this list update real-time as members change their watchlists. And, you can have the highest yielding covered calls from your personal watchlist emailed to you after the close each day. Never miss a fat premium from your watchlist again!)

Born To Sell is dedicated to only one thing: Making Money With Covered Calls. Our subscribers have access to state-of-the-art covered call screeners and covered call portfolio management tools. For less than the profit of a single trade you could be enjoying recurring monthly income using our tools. Three subscription types to choose from:

Plus, all subscriptions begin with a no-obligation 2-week free trial. What are you waiting for? Start collecting premium today!

Happy Trading,

The Born To Sell Team