UPS Covered Call
Every out-of-the-money UPS 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 $102.00 strike at 1.9% over 36 days.
Open interest and pricing as of the close on 2026-09-16. Recomputed every morning before the open.
UPS covered call candidates — Oct 23, 2026, 36 days out
Strikes are picked by distance from the $98.77 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $102.00 | 3.3% | $1.87 | 1.9% | 19.2% | $96.90 | 5.2% | 21 |
| $104.00 | 5.3% | $1.40 | 1.4% | 14.4% | $97.37 | 6.7% | 7 |
| $109.00 | 10.4% | $0.61 | 0.6% | 6.3% | $98.16 | 11.0% | 13 |
What the $102.00 call pays at expiration
One illustrative strike — the richest premium in the table — against 100 shares bought at $98.77. Profit caps at $510.00 if UPS finishes above $102.00; below $96.90 the premium stops covering the loss on the stock.
| Stock at expiration | Profit / loss per share | On 100 shares |
|---|---|---|
| $74.08 | $-22.82 | $-2,282.25 |
| $80.25 | $-16.65 | $-1,664.94 |
| $86.42 | $-10.48 | $-1,047.62 |
| $92.60 | $-4.30 | $-430.31 |
| $98.77 | +$1.87 | +$187.00 |
| $104.94 | +$5.10 | +$510.00 |
| $111.12 | +$5.10 | +$510.00 |
| $117.29 | +$5.10 | +$510.00 |
| $123.46 | +$5.10 | +$510.00 |
When a covered call fits UPS
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 UPS 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 UPS loaded.
Questions
- What does a UPS covered call pay right now?
- The $102.00 call expiring Oct 23, 2026 (36 days out) collects $1.87 per share, 1.9% of the $98.77 share price, or 19.2% annualised if you repeat it.
- What is the break-even on a UPS covered call?
- Selling the $102.00 call against stock bought at $98.77 breaks even at $96.90 — the share price less the premium. Below that the premium no longer covers the loss on the shares.
- What happens if UPS closes above the strike?
- The shares are called away at $102.00. Total return is 5.2%: the premium plus the move from $98.77 up to the strike. Gains above the strike belong to the buyer.
More on UPS
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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.