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Covered Call
BEGINNER income Capped lossEarn rent on shares you already own.
When to use it
You own 100+ shares (or were assigned via the Wheel) and are neutral-to-mildly-bullish. Sell a 30–45 DTE call at 0.20–0.40 delta; exit at ~75% max profit.
Max profit
Premium + (call strike − cost basis).
Max loss
The stock falling, cushioned by the premium.
Payoff at expiry
illustrative shape — not to scale
■ profit zone
■ loss zone
X axis = stock price at expiry →
How it's built
Strikes shown low→high. Sell = collect premium · Buy = pay premium for protection or upside.
Hermes-evaluated setups
High-conviction per-ticker applications — setups with a confidence-adjusted win rate ≥ 80% over ≥20 backtested trades (95% lower bound — honest for the sample size, never a raw 100%). Avg P/L is the mean profit/loss per one-contract position.
| Ticker | Win Rate | Avg P/L / contract | Sharpe | Trades | DTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MA | 96% | +$195 | 4.3 | 84 | 14 |
| XLF | 96% | +$30 | 3.5 | 84 | 14 |
| D | 96% | +$22 | 4.5 | 84 | 14 |
| CEVA | 96% | +$83 | 2.6 | 84 | 14 |
| MARA | 96% | +$176 | 2.5 | 84 | 14 |
| COHR | 96% | +$338 | 2.4 | 84 | 14 |
| INTC | 96% | +$48 | 1.9 | 84 | 14 |
| POWL | 96% | +$104 | 1.8 | 84 | 14 |
| MAR | 96% | +$231 | 4.2 | 83 | 14 |
| NTNX | 96% | +$80 | 3.9 | 83 | 14 |
| DE | 96% | +$760 | 3.5 | 83 | 14 |
| GS | 96% | +$489 | 3.2 | 83 | 14 |
| ON | 96% | +$170 | 2.0 | 83 | 14 |
| CIFR | 96% | +$58 | 1.9 | 83 | 14 |
| WDC | 96% | +$160 | 1.4 | 83 | 14 |
| KOPN | 95% | +$6 | 2.5 | 81 | 14 |
| META | 94% | +$928 | 3.1 | 59 | 30 |
| V | 94% | +$224 | 4.2 | 57 | 21 |
| XLV | 94% | +$43 | 4.2 | 57 | 21 |
| JPM | 94% | +$464 | 3.6 | 57 | 21 |
| PG | 94% | +$163 | 3.6 | 57 | 21 |
| KO | 94% | +$67 | 3.5 | 57 | 21 |
| XBI | 94% | +$189 | 4.2 | 57 | 21 |
| INTU | 94% | +$895 | 4.3 | 57 | 21 |
| ISRG | 94% | +$722 | 4.3 | 57 | 21 |
| CI | 94% | +$210 | 5.6 | 57 | 21 |
| SYK | 94% | +$426 | 4.2 | 57 | 21 |
| NOC | 94% | +$394 | 5.0 | 57 | 21 |
| MMM | 94% | +$83 | 6.5 | 57 | 21 |
| XLB | 94% | +$57 | 4.2 | 57 | 21 |
| IBB | 94% | +$59 | 10.0 | 57 | 21 |
| XOP | 94% | +$316 | 3.9 | 57 | 21 |
| ADP | 94% | +$366 | 3.9 | 57 | 21 |
| AMT | 94% | +$296 | 3.9 | 57 | 21 |
| ORCL | 94% | +$395 | 3.4 | 57 | 21 |
| SE | 94% | +$139 | 3.9 | 57 | 21 |
| APD | 94% | +$665 | 3.8 | 57 | 21 |
| XLRE | 94% | +$54 | 3.8 | 57 | 21 |
| ZS | 94% | +$929 | 3.8 | 57 | 21 |
| HON | 94% | +$282 | 3.8 | 57 | 21 |
| XYZ | 94% | +$430 | 3.7 | 57 | 21 |
| UBER | 94% | +$181 | 3.7 | 57 | 21 |
| MDLZ | 94% | +$63 | 3.7 | 57 | 21 |
| KRE | 94% | +$111 | 3.6 | 57 | 21 |
| EQIX | 94% | +$1150 | 3.6 | 57 | 21 |
| HLT | 94% | +$431 | 3.5 | 57 | 21 |
| DLR | 94% | +$220 | 3.5 | 57 | 21 |
| VXX | 94% | +$424 | 3.4 | 57 | 21 |
| AXP | 94% | +$539 | 3.4 | 57 | 21 |
| NOW | 94% | +$475 | 3.3 | 57 | 21 |
Backtested results are not a guarantee of future performance.