There's actually quite a few differences between a covered call and a naked put, although, short term none of them are really substantial. Long term the risks can get large. Let me outline the differences (I'll keep it short, I could probably spend an hour going in depth with details on the differences): -Rho risk: As interest rates go up, puts are worth less, calls are worth more. -Ordinary Dividend risk: Any unanticipated dividend increase helps a covered call position. Any decrease or an anticipated increase that doesn't happen hurts the covered call position. The opposite goes for a naked put. -Special Dividend risk: There may be different tax implications for a covered call vs naked put. Any special dividend has zero effect other than taxes, since contracts get adjusted to compensate for the special dividend. -Short interest risk: If a stock suddenly becomes hard to borrow due to a large amount of shorting (or whatever other reason), a covered call benefits, and the naked put suffers. -Margin differences: You will typically be required to put up the 50% margin for the stock you're holding in a covered call. For a naked put, you'll be putting down around 10 - 20% of the strike price for margin. -Funding: If you're borrowing money from your broker to buy the stock in the covered call, you're probably paying more interest then the amount that's implied by the options. -Liquidity: It may be more difficult to get out of a covered call then a naked put, since it's 2 legs instead of 1, this may not always be true though. -Commissions: You will pay more commission to enter/exit a covered call then a naked put
The boxes you sold were they american or european? Also how many boxes does your broker allow you to sell for each dollar one can post. They must have a limit on leverage? Also do you know of brokers that allow one to trade boxes as a mean to have raise loans for other business purposes?