C Covered Call
Every out-of-the-money C call expiring Oct 23, 2026, priced from the settled chain: what it pays, what it yields, and where the trade stops making money. The richest right now is the $137.00 strike at 2.9% over 36 days.
Open interest and pricing as of the close on 2026-09-16. Recomputed every morning before the open.
C covered call candidates — Oct 23, 2026, 36 days out
Strikes are picked by distance from the $132.95 share price, not by delta — the published chain carries premiums and open interest, not greeks, and inventing a delta here would be inventing data. Premium is the bid/ask midpoint where both sides quote, otherwise the last trade. The chain artifact publishes the six nearest expirations, so this is the longest one listed — 36 days out. Annualising anything shorter than a week says more about compounding arithmetic than about the trade, so those cells stay blank.
| Strike | % OTM | Premium | Yield | Annualised | Break-even | If assigned | OI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $137.00 | 3.0% | $3.90 | 2.9% | 29.7% | $129.05 | 6.0% | 33 |
| $140.00 | 5.3% | $2.80 | 2.1% | 21.3% | $130.16 | 7.4% | 17 |
| $146.00 | 9.8% | $1.38 | 1.0% | 10.5% | $131.58 | 10.8% | 8 |
What the $137.00 call pays at expiration
One illustrative strike — the richest premium in the table — against 100 shares bought at $132.95. Profit caps at $795.00 if C finishes above $137.00; below $129.05 the premium stops covering the loss on the stock.
| Stock at expiration | Profit / loss per share | On 100 shares |
|---|---|---|
| $99.71 | $-29.34 | $-2,933.75 |
| $108.02 | $-21.03 | $-2,102.81 |
| $116.33 | $-12.72 | $-1,271.87 |
| $124.64 | $-4.41 | $-440.94 |
| $132.95 | +$3.90 | +$390.00 |
| $141.26 | +$7.95 | +$795.00 |
| $149.57 | +$7.95 | +$795.00 |
| $157.88 | +$7.95 | +$795.00 |
| $166.19 | +$7.95 | +$795.00 |
When a covered call fits C
A covered call sells someone else the right to buy your shares at the strike. It pays you today and caps your upside there, so it suits a holding you are content to own flat and content to sell at the strike — not one you expect to run.
The premium is compensation for implied volatility. Rich implied volatility pays more, and usually pays more because the market expects a move; a high annualised number on a name about to report earnings is a warning as often as an opportunity. Check the C expected move and the open-interest walls before assuming the strike is far enough away.
Full mechanics, assignment and rolling are in the covered call guide; to model a different strike or a multi-leg version, open the profit calculator with C loaded.
Questions
- What does a C covered call pay right now?
- The $137.00 call expiring Oct 23, 2026 (36 days out) collects $3.90 per share, 2.9% of the $132.95 share price, or 29.7% annualised if you repeat it.
- What is the break-even on a C covered call?
- Selling the $137.00 call against stock bought at $132.95 breaks even at $129.05 — the share price less the premium. Below that the premium no longer covers the loss on the shares.
- What happens if C closes above the strike?
- The shares are called away at $137.00. Total return is 6.0%: the premium plus the move from $132.95 up to the strike. Gains above the strike belong to the buyer.
More on C
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Educational, not investment advice. Options involve risk. Open interest is reported with a one-session lag by OCC, so these levels describe positioning as of the last settled session, not live intraday flow.