Covered Calls Explained: How They Work and When They Don’t
A plain-English guide to covered calls: mechanics, payoff, breakeven, a real worked example, when the strategy earns its premium, and when it costs you.
Market Education
Payment for Order Flow (PFOF): How Free Trades Work
Payment for order flow (PFOF) is how zero-commission brokers get paid. Here’s exactly who pays whom, what Rule 606 discloses, and why regulators disagree about it.
Yield to Maturity Explained: YTM, YTC, and YTW
How yield to maturity, yield to call, and yield to worst work — with formulas, worked examples, current Treasury yields, and why bond desks quote YTW.
The Index Effect: How S&P 500 Additions Move Stocks
How S&P 500 inclusion moves a stock: the pre-announcement drift, run-up to effective date, decay after, and why the effect has shrunk since 2010.
Options 101: Calls, Puts, Strike, Expiration Explained
Options primer: how calls and puts work, what strike, expiration, and premium really mean, plus intrinsic vs time value.
Factor Investing: Value, Momentum, Quality, Size, Low-Vol
Factor investing in plain English: the five equity factors, where they came from, how Ken French and AQR build them, and where each one breaks.
T-Bills vs T-Notes vs T-Bonds: Treasury Securities 101
T-Bills, T-Notes, and T-Bonds explained: maturities, coupon math, auction schedule, and the live June 2026 yield curve, with worked examples.
What Is the P/E Ratio and When Does It Mislead You?
P/E ratio formula, trailing vs forward, sector benchmarks, Shiller CAPE, and the five cases where price-to-earnings flat-out misleads investors.
How an IPO Actually Works: S-1, Bookbuilding, Greenshoe
How a company goes public, step by step: the S-1 filing, bookbuilding, share allocation under FINRA Rule 5130, and the greenshoe that stabilizes the first weeks of trading.
Short Selling and Short Squeezes Explained: How They Work
How a short sale actually works — locate, borrow, margin — and why a crowded short can flip into a squeeze that prints $483 GameStop.