SPY Covered Call
Every out-of-the-money SPY call expiring Sep 24, 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 $777.00 strike at 0.0% over 7 days.
Open interest and pricing as of the close on 2026-09-16. Recomputed every morning before the open.
SPY covered call candidates — Sep 24, 2026, 7 days out
Strikes are picked by distance from the $754.05 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 — 7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $777.00 | 3.0% | $0.17 | 0.0% | 1.1% | $753.89 | 3.1% | 364 |
| $792.00 | 5.0% | $0.04 | 0.0% | 0.2% | $754.02 | 5.0% | 217 |
| $825.00 | 9.4% | $0.02 | 0.0% | 0.1% | $754.04 | 9.4% | 5 |
What the $777.00 call pays at expiration
One illustrative strike — the richest premium in the table — against 100 shares bought at $754.05. Profit caps at $2,311.50 if SPY finishes above $777.00; below $753.89 the premium stops covering the loss on the stock.
| Stock at expiration | Profit / loss per share | On 100 shares |
|---|---|---|
| $565.54 | $-188.35 | $-18,834.75 |
| $612.67 | $-141.22 | $-14,121.94 |
| $659.79 | $-94.09 | $-9,409.13 |
| $706.92 | $-46.96 | $-4,696.31 |
| $754.05 | +$0.17 | +$16.50 |
| $801.18 | +$23.12 | +$2,311.50 |
| $848.31 | +$23.12 | +$2,311.50 |
| $895.43 | +$23.12 | +$2,311.50 |
| $942.56 | +$23.12 | +$2,311.50 |
When a covered call fits SPY
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 SPY 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 SPY loaded.
Questions
- What does a SPY covered call pay right now?
- The $777.00 call expiring Sep 24, 2026 (7 days out) collects $0.17 per share, 0.0% of the $754.05 share price, or 1.1% annualised if you repeat it.
- What is the break-even on a SPY covered call?
- Selling the $777.00 call against stock bought at $754.05 breaks even at $753.89 — the share price less the premium. Below that the premium no longer covers the loss on the shares.
- What happens if SPY closes above the strike?
- The shares are called away at $777.00. Total return is 3.1%: the premium plus the move from $754.05 up to the strike. Gains above the strike belong to the buyer.
More on SPY
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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.