XLE Covered Call
Every out-of-the-money XLE call expiring Sep 30, 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 $66.00 strike at 0.8% over 13 days.
Open interest and pricing as of the close on 2026-09-16. Recomputed every morning before the open.
XLE covered call candidates — Sep 30, 2026, 13 days out
Strikes are picked by distance from the $64.03 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 — 13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $66.00 | 3.1% | $0.49 | 0.8% | 21.5% | $63.54 | 3.8% | 17 |
| $67.00 | 4.6% | $0.32 | 0.5% | 14.0% | $63.71 | 5.1% | 57 |
| $70.00 | 9.3% | $0.10 | 0.2% | 4.4% | $63.93 | 9.5% | 10,495 |
What the $66.00 call pays at expiration
One illustrative strike — the richest premium in the table — against 100 shares bought at $64.03. Profit caps at $246.00 if XLE finishes above $66.00; below $63.54 the premium stops covering the loss on the stock.
| Stock at expiration | Profit / loss per share | On 100 shares |
|---|---|---|
| $48.02 | $-15.52 | $-1,551.75 |
| $52.02 | $-11.52 | $-1,151.56 |
| $56.03 | $-7.51 | $-751.38 |
| $60.03 | $-3.51 | $-351.19 |
| $64.03 | +$0.49 | +$49.00 |
| $68.03 | +$2.46 | +$246.00 |
| $72.03 | +$2.46 | +$246.00 |
| $76.04 | +$2.46 | +$246.00 |
| $80.04 | +$2.46 | +$246.00 |
When a covered call fits XLE
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 XLE 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 XLE loaded.
Questions
- What does a XLE covered call pay right now?
- The $66.00 call expiring Sep 30, 2026 (13 days out) collects $0.49 per share, 0.8% of the $64.03 share price, or 21.5% annualised if you repeat it.
- What is the break-even on a XLE covered call?
- Selling the $66.00 call against stock bought at $64.03 breaks even at $63.54 — the share price less the premium. Below that the premium no longer covers the loss on the shares.
- What happens if XLE closes above the strike?
- The shares are called away at $66.00. Total return is 3.8%: the premium plus the move from $64.03 up to the strike. Gains above the strike belong to the buyer.
More on XLE
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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.