COST Covered Call
Every out-of-the-money COST 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 $920.00 strike at 2.0% over 36 days.
Open interest and pricing as of the close on 2026-09-16. Recomputed every morning before the open.
COST covered call candidates — Oct 23, 2026, 36 days out
Strikes are picked by distance from the $893.74 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $920.00 | 2.9% | $17.90 | 2.0% | 20.3% | $875.84 | 4.9% | 32 |
| $940.00 | 5.2% | $12.03 | 1.3% | 13.6% | $881.72 | 6.5% | 11 |
| $985.00 | 10.2% | $4.57 | 0.5% | 5.2% | $889.17 | 10.7% | 2 |
What the $920.00 call pays at expiration
One illustrative strike — the richest premium in the table — against 100 shares bought at $893.74. Profit caps at $4,416.00 if COST finishes above $920.00; below $875.84 the premium stops covering the loss on the stock.
| Stock at expiration | Profit / loss per share | On 100 shares |
|---|---|---|
| $670.31 | $-205.53 | $-20,553.50 |
| $726.16 | $-149.68 | $-14,967.62 |
| $782.02 | $-93.82 | $-9,381.75 |
| $837.88 | $-37.96 | $-3,795.87 |
| $893.74 | +$17.90 | +$1,790.00 |
| $949.60 | +$44.16 | +$4,416.00 |
| $1,005.46 | +$44.16 | +$4,416.00 |
| $1,061.32 | +$44.16 | +$4,416.00 |
| $1,117.18 | +$44.16 | +$4,416.00 |
When a covered call fits COST
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 COST 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 COST loaded.
Questions
- What does a COST covered call pay right now?
- The $920.00 call expiring Oct 23, 2026 (36 days out) collects $17.90 per share, 2.0% of the $893.74 share price, or 20.3% annualised if you repeat it.
- What is the break-even on a COST covered call?
- Selling the $920.00 call against stock bought at $893.74 breaks even at $875.84 — the share price less the premium. Below that the premium no longer covers the loss on the shares.
- What happens if COST closes above the strike?
- The shares are called away at $920.00. Total return is 4.9%: the premium plus the move from $893.74 up to the strike. Gains above the strike belong to the buyer.
More on COST
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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.