Covered Call Pro vs Barchart Options Screener: Which Is Better for Finding Weekly Covered Calls?

The Short Answer Before We Dig In

If you already own stocks and want a fast, focused way to find weekly covered calls worth selling, Covered Call Pro is built specifically for that job. Barchart's options screener is a broader tool that covers the whole options market — useful for research, but not optimized for the income-first covered-call workflow most retail traders actually use. Both are legitimate tools. The right one depends on how much time you want to spend filtering noise versus acting on clean setups.

What Each Tool Actually Does

Covered Call Pro is a dedicated screener for retail investors who sell covered calls on stocks they already hold or are willing to buy. Every filter, every column, and every alert is designed around one question: 'Is this call worth selling this week?' The output is a ranked list of opportunities sorted by metrics like annualized premium yield, delta, and days to expiration — the numbers you need to make a sell decision.

Barchart's options screener is a general-purpose options tool built for a much wider audience — day traders, speculators, institutional desks, and yes, covered-call sellers too. It lets you screen by volume, open interest, implied volatility rank (IVR), and Greeks across all option types: calls, puts, spreads, and more. That breadth is powerful if you know exactly what you're looking for. It can also be overwhelming if you just want to know whether to sell a covered call on your AAPL shares this Friday.

A Real-World Example: Finding a Weekly AAPL Covered Call

Let's say you own 100 shares of Apple (AAPL) currently trading at $213.50. You want to sell a weekly call expiring in 7 days. Here is how the workflow differs between the two tools.

On Covered Call Pro, you enter AAPL, select the weekly expiration, and the screener immediately surfaces the relevant strikes with pre-calculated annualized yield and delta. For example, the $217.50 strike (roughly 2% out of the money) might show a bid of $1.42, an ask of $1.48, a delta of 0.28, and an annualized yield of 34.6% based on the premium collected against the stock price. You see in one row whether this trade fits your income target and your risk tolerance. One click, one decision.

On Barchart, you would open the AAPL options chain, manually filter to the weekly expiration, scroll to the $217.50 strike, note the bid-ask, then open a separate calculator or spreadsheet to compute annualized yield. IVR data is available, which is genuinely useful context — AAPL's IVR at 45 tells you implied volatility is near the middle of its 52-week range, meaning premium is fair but not exceptional. That is good information. But you assembled it yourself from multiple screens rather than having it served to you.

For a trader managing five to ten positions, that manual assembly adds up to 30 to 60 minutes of work per week that Covered Call Pro compresses into a few minutes.

Head-to-Head: Key Filters That Matter for Weekly Covered Calls

Here is a plain comparison of the filters most retail covered-call sellers actually use week to week.

Annualized premium yield: Covered Call Pro calculates and displays this automatically. On Barchart you calculate it manually or use their separate 'Covered Call' screener tab, which does offer a yield column but requires more setup to reach.

Delta: Both tools show delta. Covered Call Pro defaults to showing it prominently because delta is your single best proxy for the probability your shares get called away. Most income sellers target the 0.20–0.35 delta range for weekly calls — far enough out of the money to keep the stock, close enough to collect meaningful premium.

Bid-ask spread: Both show it. Covered Call Pro flags wide spreads as a warning because selling into a wide spread is a hidden cost. FINRA reminds retail traders that transaction costs — including the bid-ask spread — directly reduce net returns on options strategies.

Implied Volatility Rank (IVR): Barchart has a slight edge here. Its IVR data is prominent and well-presented. Covered Call Pro shows IV percentile but IVR is Barchart's stronger suit. IVR above 50 generally means you are selling premium when it is relatively expensive — a better entry for covered-call sellers.

Earnings date warning: Covered Call Pro flags upcoming earnings automatically because selling a covered call through an earnings announcement dramatically changes your risk profile — IV crush can wipe out your premium edge, and a big move can push the stock well past your strike. Barchart shows earnings dates in the stock overview but does not surface them as a screener-level warning inside the options chain.

Mobile usability: Covered Call Pro is designed for quick weekly decisions on a phone or tablet. Barchart's full screener is data-dense and works best on a desktop.

The Risks You Need to Know Before Using Either Tool

No screener removes the risk of selling covered calls. Here is what both tools cannot protect you from, and what you need to manage yourself.

Capped upside: When you sell a covered call, you agree to sell your shares at the strike price if the stock closes above it at expiration. If AAPL jumps from $213.50 to $230 and your strike is $217.50, you keep the $1.42 premium but miss $12.50 per share of upside. The Options Industry Council (OIC) describes this as the core trade-off of covered-call writing: income now in exchange for capped gains.

Downside is not hedged: The premium you collect — say $142 on one contract — only offsets a small drop in the stock. If AAPL falls $15, your $142 in premium does not come close to covering the loss. Covered calls are not a hedge. They are an income layer on top of a stock position you are already comfortable holding.

Assignment risk: If your call expires in the money, your broker will typically auto-assign and sell your shares. The SEC notes that early assignment, while less common on American-style equity options, can happen any time before expiration. If you do not want to sell your shares, manage your position before expiration.

Tax treatment: In the US, premiums collected on covered calls are generally treated as short-term capital gains regardless of how long you have held the stock, and the IRS has specific rules around qualified covered calls that affect the holding period of your underlying shares. In Canada, the CRA treats option premiums as capital gains or income depending on your trading frequency and intent. Consult a tax professional before scaling up your covered-call activity.

Screener accuracy: Both tools pull data from exchanges, but prices move in real time. A yield that looks attractive at 9 a.m. may have changed by the time you enter your order. Always verify the current bid before placing a limit order.

When Barchart Makes More Sense

Barchart is genuinely better in a few specific situations. If you are screening across the entire market for unusual options activity — looking for stocks with elevated IVR where you might want to initiate a new covered-call position — Barchart's breadth is hard to beat. It covers equities, ETFs, futures options, and indexes in one place.

If you want to study options flow, volume spikes, or open interest changes to form a view on a stock before deciding to buy shares and sell calls, Barchart gives you that research layer. It is also free at the basic tier, which matters if you are just starting out and want to learn options mechanics without a subscription cost.

Think of Barchart as a research and discovery tool. Think of Covered Call Pro as an execution and management tool. Many experienced covered-call traders use both: Barchart to find new candidates with high IVR, Covered Call Pro to manage the weekly sell decisions on their existing holdings.

The Bottom Line: Which Tool Should You Use?

If your goal is to sell covered calls on stocks you already own, collect weekly income, and spend less than 30 minutes a week on the process, Covered Call Pro is the more efficient tool. It eliminates the manual calculation steps, surfaces the metrics that matter for income sellers, and warns you about earnings and wide spreads before you make a mistake.

If you are actively researching new positions, want deep options flow data, or are not yet ready to pay for a specialized tool, Barchart is a solid free starting point that will teach you a lot about how options markets work.

The best outcome for most retail covered-call sellers is to understand both tools well enough to use each for what it does best — and to never let the tool replace your own judgment about whether a trade fits your goals and risk tolerance.

Is Barchart's options screener free to use?

Barchart offers a free tier that includes basic options chain data, volume, and open interest. Some advanced features like IVR history and real-time streaming data require a paid Barchart Premier subscription. For casual research and learning, the free version is a reasonable starting point.

What delta should I target when selling weekly covered calls?

Most retail covered-call sellers target a delta between 0.20 and 0.35 for weekly expirations. A delta of 0.25 means the market is pricing roughly a 25% chance the option expires in the money, which balances meaningful premium against a reasonable probability of keeping your shares. The Options Industry Council (OIC) recommends understanding delta as a probability proxy before selecting a strike.

Can I get assigned early on a weekly covered call?

Yes. American-style equity options — which cover most US-listed stocks — can be exercised by the buyer at any time before expiration. Early assignment is most likely when a call is deep in the money or just before an ex-dividend date. The SEC advises covered-call sellers to monitor positions actively and close or roll a call before expiration if they do not want their shares called away.

How does selling covered calls affect my taxes in the US?

Premiums you collect from selling covered calls are generally taxed as short-term capital gains in the year you close or the option expires, regardless of your holding period in the stock. The IRS also has rules around 'qualified covered calls' that can suspend the long-term holding period clock on your underlying shares. Speak with a tax advisor familiar with options before scaling your strategy.

What is a good annualized yield target for a weekly covered call?

There is no universal target, but many income-focused retail traders look for annualized yields in the 15% to 40% range on individual stocks, depending on the stock's volatility. Higher yields usually mean higher risk of assignment or a more volatile underlying. Always weigh the yield against your willingness to sell the stock at the strike price.

Should I avoid selling covered calls before earnings announcements?

Most experienced covered-call sellers avoid holding short calls through earnings because implied volatility spikes before the announcement and then collapses sharply afterward — a phenomenon called IV crush. If the stock moves big in either direction, your premium may not compensate for the risk. FINRA notes that earnings events are a material risk factor that options traders should account for before entering a position.