Updating Evidence on Equity Index Covered Calls and Protective Puts

What is the latest evidence on attractiveness of selling covered calls or buying protective puts on the U.S. stock market? In his February 2021 paper entitled “Revisiting Covered Calls and Protective Puts: A Tale of Two Strategies”, Bryan Foltice examines raw and risk-adjusted returns from systematically selling covered calls and buying protective puts on SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) as a proxy for the stock market. Specifically, at the beginning of each month, he sells fully hedged calls or buys fully hedged puts on SPY with one month to expiration. He estimates option prices via the Black-Scholes option pricing model, using the CBOE VIX Index for SPY volatility and accounting for dividends. He considers a range of option moneyness, ranging from 5% out-of-the-money (OTM) to 5% in-the-money (ITM) in 1% increments. Using monthly SPY price, VIX level and risk-free rate during March 1993 through September 2020, he finds that:

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