I rolled my two WMT (Walmart) covered calls:

Bought to close: 2 October 9 $107 Calls
Sold to open: 2 November 6 $114 Calls
Net debit: $0.72 per share
Total debit: $144

My October 9 $107 calls were in the money, and I would prefer to keep the 200 Walmart shares rather than have them called away at $107.

So instead of simply letting assignment happen, I rolled the position up and out.

I paid a $0.72 net debit per share to move the strike from $107 to $114 and extend the expiration from October 9 to November 6.

That gives the stock more room to move while materially improving the price at which I would be willing to let the shares go.

By moving the strike from $107 to $114, I increased the potential sale price of the shares by:

$7 per share

Across 200 shares, that's:

I paid $144 to make that adjustment.

So, viewed economically, I spent $144 to create the possibility of receiving up to $1,400 more if the shares are eventually called away at $114 instead of $107.

That doesn't guarantee the stock will remain above $114 or that the position will ultimately be assigned there.

But given my preference to keep the shares and my existing cost basis, I was comfortable paying the debit to improve the strike.

I generally prefer to collect credits when I roll.

But I don't think every roll has to produce immediate income to make sense.

Sometimes the better decision is to give up a small amount of premium in exchange for a more favorable position.

In this case, the important part of the trade wasn't generating another credit.

It was moving the call strike from $107 to $114.

That gives me substantially more upside room while keeping the covered-call structure in place.

I still own 200 shares of WMT.

The new covered-call position is:

2 November 6 $114 Calls

If Walmart is above $114 at expiration, I may ultimately have the shares called away at that price.

If it's below $114, I'll still own the shares and can evaluate the next step.

Either way, I think this is a much better position than simply allowing the shares to be called away at $107 this week.

I was comfortable making this trade around the prices shown above. If the stock or option has moved materially by the time you receive this alert, I would not chase it. The economics may be different from the trade I made.

This is a record of my actual trade and actual fill, not a trade instruction or signal.