The covered put strategy involves the trader writing a put option against stock they’re sold or already sold. Besides earning a premium for the sale, with covered puts, the holder also gets access to the benefits of owning the underlying asset all the way down to the strike price, where the stock would get called away.
The covered put strategy is usually opened with 30 to 60 days before expiration. This allows a trader to benefit from time decay. Of course, the optimum time for implementing the strategy depends on the investors goals. If the goal is to sell puts and make money on the stock, then it’s best if there isn’t a lot of difference between the stock price and the strike price. If the goal is to sell the stock and the put, then you should be in a position where the puts will be assigned. For this to happen, the stock price will need to stay below the strike price until expiration