Grant,

For sure you already know most of this stuff about Ford below but I'm adding it to educate myself and others. 

Ford: 7% Yield To Kick Your Portfolio Income Into High Gear

Jan. 31, 2019

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4237063-ford-7-percent-yield-kick-portfolio-income-high-gear

Summary:

Ford and the other automakers have been crushed in recent quarters.Concerns over global auto sales growth and rising costs have sent expectations for the group much lower.But Ford has a long-term plan to address these issues and its yield is enormous.

With the stock as cheap as it has been in recent years, we think it is a buy on weakness. While dividend growth isn’t a factor – Ford hasn’t raised its dividend since 2015 – the yield is near 7% and thus, is plenty high enough without the growth factor. That yield is more than good enough to put Ford on the list of high dividend yield stocks, a group of stocks with yields in excess of 5%. We see Ford’s yield – which is as high as it has ever been – as a significant reason why income investors should favor the stock.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/01/31/how-ford-will-cut-its-losses-in-china.aspx

As announced in December of 2017, the key points of Ford's plan to turn around its Chinese operation were these:

• Lots of new products between 2018 and 2025, including eight all-new SUVs and at least 15 "electrified vehicles" (including both hybrids and pure electric models) for both the Ford and Lincoln brands.
• More local production. Right now, Ford imports Lincolns from North America to sell in China. It said it will build more of its vehicles locally, using domestic Chinese suppliers to help reduce costs and boost profitability.
• Connectivity. Ford promised that by the end of 2019, all of the new vehicles it sells in China will have the ability to connect with the internet, either via an onboard modem or by using the driver's smartphone.
• A major overhaul of its dealer distribution network. There are two separate joint ventures between Ford and Chinese automakers that produce Ford-brand vehicles. In the past, those ventures had separate distribution networks, confusing dealers and customers; Ford promised to unify them and streamline the ordering process.
• Cost reductions.

F STOCK
Ford Motor

 NYSE   

8.70

USD -0.02(-0.23%) Official Close 2/1/2019BTT   

https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/f-stock

Grant,

So I'm not sure I am clear on what you did. Did you sell the $9 put last March or just recently for March 2019 expiration?

Regardless,  I think that you are saying that if Ford is below $9 in March, that you will buy it then(cheaper) and have the June dividend?

At what price below $9 would you break even on the $9 put that you are short?

I guess that would be your risk..........if Ford crashed lower to below $8 which seems unlikely and you collected the time premium to offset the loss from being short but then, if you had just been long for the dividend, you would have had the loss from the price going down WITHOUT collecting the time premium from selling the put.

Makes sense to me.

The other risk is if Ford jumps to $11. You collect the entire $57 for the put that you sold and that buffers the lost profits from price appreciation that you could have had between now and then if you had been long the stock.................but you are buying for the dividend, so that seems like a secondary consideration.

Ford seems to have digested a ton of bad news and its probably, mostly dialed into the price. It is however, still in a downtrend technically, so from that standpoint, it might go lower. 

However, for those that see Ford as fundamentally strong, this may be a great place to buy it. 

With regards to your plan selling options. I think its pretty smart. I don't trade stocks but have traded futures options in the distant past................selling.  The vast majority of futures options expire worthless. 

If you are pretty sure about where the price is going, you should have a position in the actual futures. If you don't know but are pretty sure where it's NOT going, then it might be time to consider selling options. 

There are all sorts of  complicated strategies that traders and farmers use with options to  limit their risks. 

I remember my Dad telling me, 10 years ago when he bought a bunch of Ford stock at $2. Some of his kids were telling him at 83 years old, he was crazy to be speculating on stocks(he was an industrial engineer for Ford for 40 years and followed them closely).

I think it went down even a bit more and he bought more. He kept saying that there was no chance that Ford would go bankrupt. I'll have to ask him where he sold it at.

Here's a longer time frame on Ford:

I checked on Ford Stock dropping below $2 ten years ago to make sure I'm not getting early dementia:

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/F/ford-motor/stock-price-history

From that chart, it looks like the super duper support from the August 2012 spike low is at $7.

Sorry for the delay. I sold the $9 put to hopefully be put the stock in March 15th expiration. Break even price was 8.43 before commissions.