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Collar

Holding shares while buying a protective put and selling a covered call — the call pays for the put, capping both downside and upside.

A collar is a protective structure you build around stock you already own. You keep the shares, buy a put below the current price to cap your downside, and sell a call above it to help pay for that put. The premium you collect on the call offsets most or all of the cost of the protection, which is why a collar is often close to free to set up.

Say you hold 100 shares at 50. You might buy the 45 put and sell the 55 call, both expiring in a few months. Below 45 your losses stop; above 55 your gains stop and the shares get called away. In between, you simply ride the stock. It is a way to hold a position through an uncertain patch without staying fully exposed.

The common mistake is treating a collar as pure downside insurance and forgetting the call you sold. If the stock rallies past your short strike, you either give up the shares or have to buy the call back at a loss. Set the call strike where you would genuinely be happy to sell, not just wherever the premium looks nicest.

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