Covered calls before next week's earnings —

Selling 8–14 days before earnings gives you more time for premium decay while IV begins to rise in anticipation of the announcement. The risk of a sudden gap is lower than if you sell 1–3 days out, but you still benefit from the IV expansion. Many traders prefer this window to capture theta while exiting before the announcement itself.

Many covered call traders choose to close their position before earnings to avoid the binary outcome of an upside gap. A common rule: buy back the call when you've captured 50% of the original premium, or close the day before earnings if the position is still open. This locks in most of the profit while eliminating the assignment risk.

In the 8–14 day window, IV typically starts to climb as market participants buy options to position for the announcement. The steepest IV expansion usually occurs in the final 3–5 days. Selling at 8–14 days captures the beginning of this expansion while giving you flexibility to manage the trade before the event.

The 0.20–0.30 delta range works well for the 8–14 day window. It provides enough downside buffer for an upside gap while still capturing meaningful premium from the rising IV. Avoid deltas above 0.35 in this window — if the stock rallies into earnings, assignment risk increases rapidly in the final days.

We use CCL Score v4, which applies an earnings penalty: contracts with earnings in ≤14 days receive a 15% discount. This balances premium yield with earnings risk. Tickers showing next week are already penalized in the score — sort by CCL Score for the most risk-adjusted view.