A conservative covered strangle on CDE would usually mean: own 100 shares, sell an out-of-the-money call above resistance, and sell an out-of-the-money put below support, with the strikes far enough away that you’re comfortable either selling the stock at a gain or buying more on a dip. A common conservative setup is to keep the call around a 0.15–0.25 delta and the put around a 0.10–0.20 delta, using the same expiration 20–50 days out. This fits the basic covered-strangle structure: long stock plus a short call and short put, both out of the money.

How to size it

For CDE, I’d keep it conservative by:

  • Using a single 100-share lot only.
  • Choosing strikes with modest premium rather than chasing income.
  • Picking an expiration about 3 to 7 weeks out.
  • Making sure the put strike is a level you’d actually be willing to add shares at if assigned.

That approach keeps the trade closer to a “slow income” setup than a high-risk premium grab. The strategy is generally used when the trader expects the stock to stay fairly range-bound and is okay either trimming shares higher or adding shares lower.

Practical strike framework

A simple conservative framework for CDE would be:

  • Short call: 1 strike level above the current price, often the first or second OTM strike.
  • Short put: 1–2 strike levels below the current price, ideally below a support area.
  • Expiration: 30–45 days is often a good balance between theta decay and not taking too much near-term event risk.

If CDE is volatile or near an earnings date, go even farther OTM or skip the trade entirely. Covered strangles work best when the trader is comfortable with assignment on either side and the stock is not making dramatic swings.

Example structure

Here’s a conservative template , not a live quote:

  • Buy 100 shares of CDE.
  • Sell 1 call roughly 5% to 10% above the stock price.
  • Sell 1 put roughly 5% to 10% below the stock price.
  • Use the same expiration for both options.

If you want a more cautious version, widen that to roughly 10% to 15% OTM on both sides and accept lower premium. That usually improves your odds of keeping the stock and avoiding assignment, but the income will be smaller.

Risk profile

The conservative version still has meaningful downside risk because you own the shares and can also be assigned on the put if CDE falls. Your upside is capped at the call strike plus collected premium, while downside begins to matter below the stock basis minus premium received.

So the best conservative mindset is:

  • Use shares you want to hold anyway.
  • Sell premium only at strikes you can live with.
  • Prefer smaller, repeatable credits over aggressive premium.

A cleaner way to think about it is: this is not a “max return” trade, it’s a “get paid while waiting” trade.

TLDR

A good conservative covered strangle for CDE would usually be 100 shares + a far OTM call + a farther OTM put, 30–45 days out , with both strikes chosen at levels you’d be okay with if assigned. If you want, I can turn that into a specific strike-by-strike example using CDE’s current price and options chain.