OREANDA-NEWS. January 29, 2016. Chicago Board Options Exchange® (CBOE®) today announced the release of a new study that examines both the monthly CBOE S&P 500 PutWrite Index (PUTSM Index) and the CBOE S&P 500 One-Week PutWrite Index (WPUTSM Index), comparing their performances with that of traditional benchmark stock and bond indexes. This is the first comprehensive study that examines the performance of a benchmark strategy index that incorporates WeeklysSM options.

Written by Oleg Bondarenko, professor of finance at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and sponsored by CBOE, the study -- “An Analysis of Index Option Writing with Monthly and Weekly Rollover”-- analyzes the performance of the two PutWrite Indexes through the end of 2015. Among his findings, Bondarenko found that the two PutWrite indexes had strong performance in several areas:

  • Annual premium income. From 2006 to 2015 (CBOE introduced Weeklys options in 2005), the average annual gross premium collected was 24.1 percent for the PUT Index and 39.3 percent for the WPUT Index, the study found. While a one-time premium collected by the weekly WPUT Index usually was smaller than a one-time premium collected by the monthly PUT Index, the WPUT Index had higher aggregate annual premiums because premiums were collected 52 times, rather than 12 times, per year.
  • Lower risk. Over the last 10 years, since the launch of Weeklys options, the WPUT Index had a lower standard deviation than the PUT and S&P 500 Indexes, and the maximum drawdowns were down 24.2 percent for the WPUT Index, 32.7 percent for the PUT Index and 50.9 percent for the S&P 500 Index.
  • Higher long-term returns with lower volatility. Looking longer-term with the PUT Index, since mid-1986, the annual compound return of the PUT Index was 10.13 percent, compared with 9.85 percent for the S&P 500 Index. The standard deviation of the PUT Index was substantially lower as well, 10.16 percent versus the S&P 500 Index’s 15.26 percent.

The CBOE S&P 500 One-Week PutWrite Index (WPUT) tracks the performance of a hypothetical investment strategy that sells a sequence of at-the-money S&P 500 Index (SPX) put options on a weekly basis. The maturity of the written SPX put option is always one week to expiry. The written SPX put option is collateralized by a money market account invested in one-month Treasury bills. CBOE provides historical data on the WPUT Index dating to January 2006.

The PUT Index tracks the performance of a hypothetical investment strategy that sells a sequence of one-month, at-the-money SPX puts and invests cash in one- and three-month Treasury bill rates. The number of puts sold varies from month to month, but is limited so that the amount held in Treasuries can finance the maximum possible loss from final settlement of the SPX puts. CBOE provides historical data on the PUT Index dating to mid-1986.

Visit the CBOE Benchmarks microsite for links to the new paper and to several other options-based strategy papers. For data and information on the PUT and WPUT indexes, please visit www.cboe.com/benchmarks.

In 2005, CBOE pioneered the short-term options space by introducing the first weekly expiring options contract. Except for more frequent expiration dates, Weeklys generally have the same contract specifications as monthly expiring contracts. Contracts with weekly expirations allow investors to implement more targeted buying, selling, spreading or hedging strategies. In addition, futures and options with weekly expirations can help investors take advantage of breaking news or known economic events, such as earnings, monthly U.S. economic reports and Fed announcements. Average daily volume for SPX Weeklys has grown from 15,133 contracts in 2010 to 337,683 contracts in 2015.

About CBOE Benchmarks
For more than a decade, CBOE has been a worldwide leader in creating benchmark indexes designed to help investors track the performance of investment strategies that use options or volatility products to help manage risk and enhance yield. CBOE currently publishes data on more than two dozen strategy performance benchmark indexes, including the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (BXM), the CBOE S&P 500 PutWrite Index (PUT) and the CBOE VIX Tail Hedge Index (VXTH). Additional information on all of CBOE’s strategy performance benchmark indexes can be found at www.cboe.com/benchmarks. Manager testimonials and a 2015 study on funds’ use of options can be found at www.cboe.com/funds.

About CBOE
CBOE, the largest U.S. options exchange and creator of listed options, continues to set the bar for options and volatility trading through product innovation, trading technology and investor education. CBOE Holdings offers equity, index and ETP options, including proprietary products, such as options and futures on the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX Index) and S&P 500 options (SPX), the most active U.S. index option. Other products engineered by CBOE include equity options, security index options, Weeklys options, FLEX options and benchmark products such as the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (BXM). CBOE Holdings is home to the world-renowned Options Institute, Livevol options analytics and data tools, and www.cboe.com, the go-to place for options and volatility trading resources.