CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (BXM)
Encyclopedia
The CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (ticker symbol BXM) is a benchmark index designed to show the hypothetical performance of a portfolio that engages in a buy-write strategy using S&P 500 index call options.
against the stock position. The writing of the call option provides extra income for an investor who is willing to forego some upside potential.
The BXM Index is designed to show the hypothetical performance of a strategy in which an investor buys a portfolio of the S&P 500 stocks, and also sells (or writes) covered call
options on the S&P 500
Index.
commissioned Professor Robert Whaley of Vanderbilt University. In April 2002, the index was announced with the publication of Whaley's "Return and Risk of CBOE Buy-Write Monthly Index" in Journal of Derivatives (Winter 2002).
Investors have used covered call strategies for more than three decades. As noted in a magazine article “Buy Writing Makes Comeback as Way to Hedge Risk.” Pensions & Investments, (May 16, 2005), two developments have enhanced the interest in covered call strategies in recent years: (1) in 2002 the Chicago Board Options Exchange
introduced the first major benchmark index for covered call strategies, the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (ticker BXM), and (2) in 2004 the Ibbotson Associates consulting firm published a case study on buy-write strategies. In 2006 Callan Associates published A Review of the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index.
The BXM Index won the Most Innovative Benchmark Index award at the 2004 Super Bowl of Indexing Conference.
More than forty new buy-write investment products have been introduced since mid-2004 (see examples below).
Description
The term buy-write is used because the investor buys stocks and writes call optionsOption (finance)
In finance, an option is a derivative financial instrument that specifies a contract between two parties for a future transaction on an asset at a reference price. The buyer of the option gains the right, but not the obligation, to engage in that transaction, while the seller incurs the...
against the stock position. The writing of the call option provides extra income for an investor who is willing to forego some upside potential.
The BXM Index is designed to show the hypothetical performance of a strategy in which an investor buys a portfolio of the S&P 500 stocks, and also sells (or writes) covered call
Covered call
A covered call is a financial market transaction in which the seller of call options owns the corresponding amount of the underlying instrument, such as shares of a stock or other securities. If a trader buys the underlying instrument at the same time as he sells the call, the strategy is often...
options on the S&P 500
S&P 500
The S&P 500 is a free-float capitalization-weighted index published since 1957 of the prices of 500 large-cap common stocks actively traded in the United States. The stocks included in the S&P 500 are those of large publicly held companies that trade on either of the two largest American stock...
Index.
History
Investors have used exchange-listed options to engage in buy-write strategies since the 1970s, but prior to 2002 there was no major benchmark for buy-write strategies. To develop the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (ticker BXM), the Chicago Board Options ExchangeChicago Board Options Exchange
The Chicago Board Options Exchange , located at 400 South LaSalle Street in Chicago, is the largest U.S. options exchange with annual trading volume that hovered around one billion contracts at the end of 2007...
commissioned Professor Robert Whaley of Vanderbilt University. In April 2002, the index was announced with the publication of Whaley's "Return and Risk of CBOE Buy-Write Monthly Index" in Journal of Derivatives (Winter 2002).
Investors have used covered call strategies for more than three decades. As noted in a magazine article “Buy Writing Makes Comeback as Way to Hedge Risk.” Pensions & Investments, (May 16, 2005), two developments have enhanced the interest in covered call strategies in recent years: (1) in 2002 the Chicago Board Options Exchange
Chicago Board Options Exchange
The Chicago Board Options Exchange , located at 400 South LaSalle Street in Chicago, is the largest U.S. options exchange with annual trading volume that hovered around one billion contracts at the end of 2007...
introduced the first major benchmark index for covered call strategies, the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (ticker BXM), and (2) in 2004 the Ibbotson Associates consulting firm published a case study on buy-write strategies. In 2006 Callan Associates published A Review of the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index.
The BXM Index won the Most Innovative Benchmark Index award at the 2004 Super Bowl of Indexing Conference.
More than forty new buy-write investment products have been introduced since mid-2004 (see examples below).