OpScout

Covered Call alerts

Covered Call alerts on your own terms.

Choose the stock, the strike, the expiration window and the minimum annualized return you want. OpScout screens the calls for you during the U.S. trading session and alerts you by push notification or WhatsApp when one matches.

You make the decisions. OpScout does the watching.

What you set

  • Strike rule

    A minimum out-of-the-money distance, a preset range, or a strike you enter. Only calls that are out of the money are considered.

  • Expiration

    A range of days to expiration, inclusive at both ends, or the exact expiration dates you pick.

  • Minimum annualized return

    The return a call has to reach, worked out by OpScout itself at the bid.

  • Optional filters

    An implied volatility range, a maximum in-the-money probability, and a price or market cap range for the stock.

How OpScout checks a Covered Call Monitor

OpScout evaluates Monitors on a schedule, not continuously: about every 15 minutes during the U.S. regular trading session, from the 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time open. Saving a Monitor does not check it; the app shows when its first check is due. A condition that is met only between two checks, or only outside the session, may never be detected. When Monitors are evaluated.

Each check screens the stock's calls with your criteria, reads every returned contract's bid and ask, and works out the return at the bid: the bid divided by the stock price less the bid, annualized over the days left to expiration. OpScout does not use the screening service's own returns. How returns are calculated.

When several calls match, the Alert names the first by a published ordering, the highest annualized return at the bid first, and counts the rest. The order is a sorting rule, not a recommendation. Ranking.

The figures leave out commissions, fees, taxes, dividends and early assignment, and no displayed bid or return is a quote you can trade on. Treat them as estimates and confirm any value with your broker. What calculations do not include.

How it works

  1. You set the call rules

    Pick the stock, the strike rule, the expiration window and your minimum annualized return.

  2. OpScout keeps checking

    On the session's schedule, for as long as the Monitor is on.

  3. You get an Alert, you decide

    By push notification or WhatsApp, naming the call that matched. What you do next is always your decision.

Questions

Does OpScout place the trade for me?

No. OpScout does not provide brokerage services, custody or trade execution, and it does not connect to your brokerage account. An Alert tells you that the conditions you set were met. Any trade is yours to make, with your broker.

Do I need to own the shares?

OpScout does not check what you own. A Covered Call Monitor screens the calls on the stock you choose; whether you hold the shares that would cover a call is between you and your broker.

Which price is the return based on?

The bid, the price at which a sold option is valued. OpScout reads each contract's bid itself. For a Covered Call it also works out the annualized return if the shares are called away at the strike. Annualized return, explained.

How often is the Monitor checked?

A Monitor set to Once is checked in every cycle until its condition is met. A Monitor set to Repeat becomes due again when its Repeat interval has passed, so the interval sets both how often it is checked and how often you can be notified while the condition still holds. Cycles run only during the U.S. regular trading session.

Important

OpScout provides informational alerts based on conditions configured by users.

OpScout does not provide investment advice, investment recommendations, brokerage services, custody, or trade execution.