COST wheel: cash-secured put & covered-call yields
Costco Wholesale Corp · Consumer discretionary · $1,092.21 close on Nov 12, 2026
What the Nov 12, 2026 close says about COST
At 23.0% implied volatility, the options market is pricing a one-standard-deviation move of about $78.96 (7.2%) in COST by Dec 18, 2026, 36 days out.
Selling the $1055 put (−0.30Δ) for $15.95 means assignment would leave a cost basis of $1,039.05, 4.9% below the $1,092.21 close.
The 64-day 0.30Δ put pays 1.3× the premium of the 36-day one for 1.8× the time — more premium per day on the 36-day contract ($0.443 vs $0.323).
At 0.30Δ on the Dec 18 expiry the put yields 1.51% on its strike and the call 1.52% on spot: puts and calls pay within 10% of each other on COST this session.
Moving down to the $1030 put (−0.21Δ) buys 2.3% more room below spot and keeps 63% of the 0.30Δ premium.
Open interest in the stored window totals 24,301 contracts; the largest single line is the $1000 put expiring Jan 15 with 1,546 (6.4% of the window).
By options volume COST ranks #118 of 679 names in our universe.
Near-the-money options volume (1.8k) is 165% above its 5-session average.
The builder re-quotes every leg from the live chain when it opens; tracking is free to start.
Cash-secured puts on COST
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Cash secured | Period yield | Annualized | Breakeven | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $1055 | −0.30 | $15.95 Nov 12 | $1,595.00 | $105,500 | 1.51% | 15.3% | $1,039.05 | 50 | 18 |
| 0.20Δ | $1030 | −0.21 | $10.00 Nov 12 | $1,000.00 | $103,000 | 0.97% | 9.8% | $1,020.00 | 50 | 25 |
Snapshot #9343 · session 2026-11-12 · captured 22:01 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ strike · annualized = yield × 365 ÷ 36
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Cash secured | Period yield | Annualized | Breakeven | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $1050 | −0.31 | $20.70 Nov 12 | $2,070.00 | $105,000 | 1.97% | 11.2% | $1,029.30 | 80 | 10 |
| 0.20Δ | $1015 | −0.20 | $12.30 Nov 12 | $1,230.00 | $101,500 | 1.21% | 6.9% | $1,002.70 | 82 | 17 |
Snapshot #9343 · session 2026-11-12 · captured 22:01 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ strike · annualized = yield × 365 ÷ 64
Covered calls on COST
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Yield on spot | Annualized | If called | If called, ann. | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $1140 | 0.31 | $16.60 Nov 12 | $1,660.00 | 1.52% | 15.4% | 5.90% | 59.8% | 381 | 57 |
| 0.20Δ | $1160 | 0.23 | $11.10 Nov 12 | $1,110.00 | 1.02% | 10.3% | 7.22% | 73.2% | 498 | 44 |
Snapshot #9343 · session 2026-11-12 · captured 22:01 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ spot · if called = (premium + strike − spot) ÷ spot · annualized × 365 ÷ 36
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Yield on spot | Annualized | If called | If called, ann. | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $1160 | 0.29 | $18.50 Nov 12 | $1,850.00 | 1.69% | 9.7% | 7.90% | 45.1% | 579 | 27 |
| 0.20Δ | $1200 | 0.19 | $10.55 Nov 12 | $1,055.00 | 0.97% | 5.5% | 10.83% | 61.8% | 1,049 | 148 |
Snapshot #9343 · session 2026-11-12 · captured 22:01 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ spot · if called = (premium + strike − spot) ÷ spot · annualized × 365 ÷ 64
COST volatility, dividends and liquidity
- Implied volatility (ATM, ≈30 days)
- 23.0%session 2026-11-12
- IV rank / IV percentile
- Unavailable1
- Next earnings
- Unavailable2
- Next ex-dividend
- None announcedchecked Nov 9, 2026
- Open interest, stored window
- 24,301 contractssession 2026-11-12
- Largest open-interest line
- $1000 put · Jan 15 · 1,546
- Bid/ask spread
- Unavailable3
- Options liquidity rank
- #118 of 679 optionable names by options volume
How these numbers are made
One end-of-day snapshot per session from a 15-minute-delayed feed. A premium is a contract’s last trade, used only if it printed that session, sits above intrinsic value and is in order with its neighbours; deltas are the feed’s own. Expiries are the first at least 30 and 60 days out, and nothing under 30 days is annualized. Not investment advice. Full methodology.
- We are building our own daily implied-volatility history (34 of 252 sessions so far); IV rank and percentile need a full year of it.
- Our data provider does not license announced earnings dates, and we do not publish estimates.
- Our data feed carries last trades, not live bid/ask quotes, so we cannot show a spread.