Over the course of this week, I will be going over several different strategies for SPX in this Volatile Market, and a cash secured put is the first that I will discuss in this post. Even with the rally Friday (Jan 23), the markets are still down considerably in the last 4 weeks. SPX closed Friday at around 1907, up around 37 points for the day! Dec 29, SPX closed at 2078. We are still 171 points away from the Dec 29 close. That’s about 8 ½ % from those lofty levels. With that as perspective, I think cash secured puts might be attractive here in certain stocks. Cash secured puts are the same strategy as covered writes, but not as popular. SPY closed Friday at $190.52 up an amazing $3.83 or 2% for the day. I will use the February expiration in my example. SPY I will sell 1 Feb 180 put for $1.50. If SPY closes above $180 by February expiration, Feb 19, I collect the entire premium of $180. If SPY closes under $180 by February expiration, I obligate myself to buy the SPY ETF at the short strike of $180 minus the premium of $1.50 or […]