covered option writing

fundjunkie said:

All,
By and large I swing trade and and after settling on a stock picking strategy am interested in (amongst other things) using out of the money covered option writes to leverage my gains and cushion my losses. Because I'm not a particluarly experienced trader I'm not sure what brokers will allow me to write options against any of the stocks I hold. Will any broker allow me to do this if I own the corresponding stock in the right quantities?

I am currently with comdirect and have been considering a move to another broker to have the option of using margin (with careful money management). The current frontrunner is deal4free with their CFD/spreadbetting accounts. Of course, these are not options accounts so I expect I won't be able to make covered writes (or some equivalent) if i go that way.

ideally, i'd like the option of doing all of this - buy stocks, buy spreads or CFDs on margin, cover my stock holidngs with option writes. My priority is to find a broker who'll allow me to write options. However, a broker who'll allow me to do more will be most useful


Thanks in advance,
Dave

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