Today I BTC 2 MEE Oct09 30 Covered Calls and STO 2 MEE Jan10 34 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $136.98 in an IRA account.  My basis for these MEE shares is now 32.31, excluding dividends received.

I not only rolled out, I rolled up $4 on the strike price and did it all with for a net deposit rather than a net debit as I had to do when I rolled out and up to the Oct09 30 strike from the Jun09 25 strike early in June.

I don’t know if MEE is just rising with the rest of the market.  It has been rolling between about 24 and 34 since early Aug09 after rising from about $17.  I see that the sector in general and MEE in particular were lowered to neutral late in September but that should have held MEE back, not moved it higher.  MEE did acquire 23 million additional coal reserves from the bankrupt Appalachian Fuels which was announced on Sept 30.

It feels good again to have Covered Calls at a higher strike price than my basis on the underlying stock.  That is happening more often these days but not always, unfortunately.