How come only in taxable accounts? I sense I'm going to learn something new. Thanks in advance.
MRG
A number of my puts are tied up in long-term trades, as opposed to opportunistic short-term trades. For instance, I have sold long-term puts in three stocks to finance long-term call spreads in three stocks which I believed, when made, were near a bottom. I can only do spreads in my taxable account.
Other of my put trades are opportunistic, mainly around stocks I own which appear to be stuck in a tight range. Sell the put at the bottom of the range, buy it back at the top.
Others are around stocks I follow that drop for no good reason. For instance, when retail stocks started tanking in January, Kohl's (KSS) fell from 57 into the low 50s with no specific company news. I snapped up some Jan31 52 puts, ended up rolling them out from Feb28 51 puts and they expired today, with the stock at 56. I made a 2.14% (18.1% annualized) return on the secured cash over a 43-day trade.
While I can do these latter two types of trades in my IRA, I have (for now) chosen not to do so. (BTW, in both accounts cash is segregated to cover the puts, unlike TallTim's case.) Part of this is that my IRA is more fully invested in income-producing stocks and bonds.