This is why
@bonaire 's idea of selling puts makes sense. Let's use his/her's Jan 17 190 puts for $13 as an example. That would mean the OP would have to keep 19000 available in the cash margin account (what he/she is doing now) making 0.02% interest.
So this is my understanding of how it works.
Since the OP sold the puts, OP gets 1300 dollars now (valuation of put/calls x 100 shares, from what I read). So for leaving their money in the cash margin account until January they make 1300 dollars. If it hits by January (price goes down to 190), they are obligated to buy the shares at 190 (plus commission), or buy back their put (possibly losing some money). If the price remains above 190, they keep the 1300 and the 19000 (minus taxes and commissions). Then they could do this again. Fascinating!
That being said
@bonaire's comment about needing less cash for blue chip stocks maybe a better option since they are less volatile to potentially hit the strike price (less likely to need to buy). Need less cash in the account, so more flexible. However I suspect their put price will be lower to account for these variables.
As you describe it, what any investor needs to do is determine if they want to risk buying 100 shares and losing say $1000 for every $10 it goes down, gaining $1000 for every $10 it goes up or simply a "side-bet" of holding $19000 aside and making $1300 to do it - as long as pps stays above 190. If it drops to $180, they are In the Money but are still "up $3" if Jan expiration is $180. That's fine too. If they "held long and strong" the stock from 209 to 180, they lose $2900. If they use stop losses at $200, they lose $900.
Add to that "spreads, butterflies, condors" and other options craziness to lower risk.
The options institute offers courses in this area. Also, an online group (the guys who built the ThinkorSwim product) run a company called TastyTrade out of Chicago and offer courses, talk-shows and more online at
www.tastytrade.com. They also hired ex tv-talking-head Dylan Ratigan who is "very pro Tesla". He was thrown off MSNBC for speaking his mind.
Anyway - adding to the TSLA risk is the overall market feeling of what does an integrated SCTY do to TSLA itself. Is it adding cash-flow (from the leases and PPAs) or is it a boat anchor leading to more debt and dilution? That is what makes it risky and why you could earn $1300 just by saying you would buy 100 shares by January of 2017. It is that volatile.
Which is why some say you would want to avoid it entirely.
Even though I like EVs, Green Energy and all that, my puts are sold under PSX, BP, THO, SCCO and other stable firms. THO is interesting as it was $49 during the February dip and now $82. That's an RV manufacturer and the trend is up for RV sales among retirees. One of the best short puts I have is Jan 2017 PSX puts sold for $2.95 with strike of $60. They will expire worthless and I keep the value of those sold. If PSX plunges to the $60s, as a liquid stock, you just short "into the strike price" of the lower short put and you're fine. But shorting TSLA is hard due to the borrowing costs.
What I do if I wanted to make $1300 would be to 20 sell $60 strike Feb 17 puts on PSX for .65, maybe .70. It would only require $19000 in buying power to do that. PSX is a large refinery (yeah, gasoline and other) but until we see a huge change in consumer buying, gasoline is in demand. I doubt PSX drops from $80 to 60 in four months. That is about a 6.3% ROI (pre-tax) on the money risked and it is a STCG. I am not "pro gasoline". I am "pro common sense". For the above, if I really wanted to sell those puts, I would look for a market dip (they move the market around all day) and while dipping, options volatility goes up and you can sell puts at higher prices.
Warren Buffet invests in BYD (EVs) *and* heavily in PSX. Go figure.
We already got through the September Fed meeting so banks should be somewhat stable. I used to sell puts on JPM in the past, might do it again soon.
This is not investment advice. And options trading is (IS) dangerous if you do it wrong. I've been hurt before in bad ways - but learned a lot and recovered. Be careful of analyst and "analyst" calls which can swing the market by triggering algorithmic trader reactions (computers that read the press and adjust trading patterns). TSLA is one of the bigger tennis balls that these market maker guys smack around.
For the OP - do you trust TSLA, the market and the casino aspects "out there" more than cash sitting in the bank? That's up to you to decide. But remember, wall street is the biggest casino in the world.
