We last sold a put on Bristol Meyers Squibb Company (BMY), a pharmaceutical company exactly three months ago. At that time, volatility was high, and subsequently so were option premiums. Things are much more settled now. Volatility is relatively low, the market is at or near all time highs, and it is being driven primarily by greed. Today is not necessarily an ideal time for selling puts.
However, you must keep in mind that it is not so much a stock market as it is a market of stocks. Since our April put sell, BMY has drilled sideways over the last 3 months, ranging between roughly $44 and $50. Currently it has been nearly dead sideways between $46 and $47 for the last 15 trading sessions – nearly a month. I had money in the account just sitting there for a while, so I decided to engage some of it today.
I went with the $44 strike price this time, rather than the $43 I used last time. The delta at the time I sold today’s option was .1788. Although the $0.55 premium is far less than the $1.14 we got last time, this delta seems to offer a decent compromise between the risk of being assigned and the reward of the sold premium.
| Option Type | Short Put (STO) |
| Date of Sale | 07/10/2025 |
| Option Sold | -BMY250815P44 |
| Expiration Date | 08/15/2025 |
| Days to Expiration | 36 |
| Number Sold | 1 |
| Premium per Contract | $55.00 |
| Total Premium Received | $55.00 |
| Potential Liability/Cash Put Reserve | $4,400.00 |
| Company Ticker | BMY |
| Stock Price at time of Put sale | $48.37 |
| Strike Price | $44.00 |
| Cost per Share if Assigned | $43.45 |
| Discount to Current Price If Assigned | 10.17% |
| Annual Dividend | $2.48 |
| Dividend Yield at Current Price | 5.13% |
| Dividend Yield on Cost if Assigned | 5.71% |
| Net ROI on Reserve If Not Assigned | 1.14% |
| Annualized ROI on Reserve If Not Assigned | 11.53% |