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Best Stocks for a Poor Man's Covered Call
Ten PMCC candidates: implied volatility low enough that the long LEAPS is not overpriced, with enough option volume to keep selling calls against it.
On this page
The short answer
A poor man's covered call buys a deep in-the-money LEAPS and sells short-dated calls against it. That makes it long volatility on the back leg and short volatility on the front, so the ideal candidate has cheap long-dated premium and a liquid short-dated chain — conditions that pull in opposite directions and rarely coexist.
The screen resolves that tension by ranking on low IV rank (which makes the LEAPS affordable) while requiring heavy option volume (which makes the monthly call sales practical). Share price is capped so the long leg does not consume the account, since the whole point of the structure is capital efficiency.
ApexVol screens 417 optionable names for this list, requiring a $10+ share price and 5,000+ contracts of average daily option volume before ranking. Filtered to shares under $300 with at least 5,000 contracts of average daily option volume, then ranked by lowest IV rank so the long-dated leg is cheapest relative to each name's own history.
Ranked at a glance
10 picks,
in order.
Filtered to shares under $300 with at least 5,000 contracts of average daily option volume, then ranked by lowest IV rank so the long-dated leg is cheapest relative to each name's own history.
| Rank | Name | Key stat | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BE | IV percentile 1 (IV 81.6%) | Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (82% 30-day IV), and 154K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $291. |
| 2 | BIDU | IV percentile 1 (IV 37.2%) | Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (37% 30-day IV), and 25K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $87. |
| 3 | CCJ | IV percentile 1 (IV 46.4%) | Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (46% 30-day IV), and 20K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $87. |
| 4 | FPS | IV percentile 1 (IV 71.1%) | Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (71% 30-day IV), and 19K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $37. |
| 5 | HUT | IV percentile 1 (IV 89.5%) | Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (90% 30-day IV), and 19K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $93. |
| 6 | INFQ | IV percentile 1 (IV 85.4%) | Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (85% 30-day IV), and 12K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $14. |
| 7 | KGC | IV percentile 1 (IV 44.2%) | Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (44% 30-day IV), and 7K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $24. |
| 8 | MARA | IV percentile 1 (IV 79.5%) | Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (79% 30-day IV), and 192K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $12. |
| 9 | NEM | IV percentile 1 (IV 43.7%) | Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (44% 30-day IV), and 17K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $117. |
| 10 | SPCX | IV percentile 1 (IV 42.0%) | Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (42% 30-day IV), and 867K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $149. |
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BE Top pick
Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (82% 30-day IV), and 154K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $291.
-
BIDU
Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (37% 30-day IV), and 25K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $87.
-
CCJ
Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (46% 30-day IV), and 20K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $87.
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FPS
Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (71% 30-day IV), and 19K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $37.
-
HUT
Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (90% 30-day IV), and 19K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $93.
-
INFQ
Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (85% 30-day IV), and 12K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $14.
-
KGC
Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (44% 30-day IV), and 7K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $24.
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MARA
Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (79% 30-day IV), and 192K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $12.
-
NEM
Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (44% 30-day IV), and 17K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $117.
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SPCX
Long-dated premium is cheap at IV rank 1 (42% 30-day IV), and 867K contracts a day keeps the short call rollable. Shares at $149.
Live data, refreshed October 1, 2026. October 2026 data refresh: rebuilt from 417 liquid names on the 2026-09-30 data snapshot. Top pick BE at IV rank 1.
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Questions
About this ranking.
What is a poor man's covered call?
A diagonal spread that substitutes a deep in-the-money LEAPS call for the 100 shares a traditional covered call requires. You sell short-dated calls against the LEAPS instead of against stock, achieving a similar payoff for a fraction of the capital — and taking on expiration risk the share-based version does not have.
How deep should the long LEAPS be?
Usually 70-80 delta with at least a year to expiration. Deeper means less extrinsic value to decay and behaviour closer to owning the shares. The closer to at-the-money you go, the more the position becomes a bet on timing rather than a stock substitute.
What is the main risk of a PMCC versus a real covered call?
The long leg expires. A real covered call is backed by shares you can hold indefinitely through a drawdown; a PMCC is backed by an option with a deadline. If the stock falls and stays down, the LEAPS can lose most of its value while a share holder simply waits.
Why does the short call need liquidity?
Because you will sell one roughly every month for the life of the LEAPS. A wide market costs you on every roll, and over a dozen rolls that compounds into a large share of the income the structure was supposed to generate.
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