COST wheel: cash-secured put & covered-call yields
Costco Wholesale Corp · Consumer discretionary · $922.92 close on Sep 28, 2026
What the Sep 28, 2026 close says about COST
At 18.8% implied volatility, the options market is pricing a one-standard-deviation move of about $51.49 (5.6%) in COST by Oct 30, 2026, 32 days out.
Selling the $900 put (−0.31Δ) for $11.49 means assignment would leave a cost basis of $888.51, 3.7% below the $922.92 close.
The 81-day 0.30Δ put pays 1.5× the premium of the 32-day one for 2.5× the time — more premium per day on the 32-day contract ($0.359 vs $0.215).
At 0.30Δ on the Oct 30 expiry the put yields 1.28% on its strike and the call 1.07% on spot: puts pay 1.2× what calls do on COST this session.
Moving down to the $885 put (−0.22Δ) buys 1.6% more room below spot and keeps 63% of the 0.30Δ premium.
Open interest in the stored window totals 15,331 contracts; the largest single line is the $820 put expiring Dec 18 with 2,014 (13.1% of the window).
By options volume COST ranks #89 of 441 names in our universe.
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 | $900 | −0.31 | $11.49 Sep 28 | $1,149.00 | $90,000 | 1.28% | 14.6% | $888.51 | 258 | 23 |
| 0.20Δ | $885 | −0.22 | $7.28 Sep 28 | $728.00 | $88,500 | 0.82% | 9.4% | $877.72 | 24 | 12 |
Snapshot #96 · session 2026-09-28 · captured 22:22 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ strike · annualized = yield × 365 ÷ 32
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Cash secured | Period yield | Annualized | Breakeven | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $885 | −0.30 | $17.38 Sep 28 | $1,738.00 | $88,500 | 1.96% | 8.8% | $867.62 | 15 | 15 |
| 0.20Δ | $855 | −0.20 | $11.05 Sep 28 | $1,105.00 | $85,500 | 1.29% | 5.8% | $843.95 | 2 | 71 |
Snapshot #96 · session 2026-09-28 · captured 22:22 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ strike · annualized = yield × 365 ÷ 81
Covered calls on COST
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Yield on spot | Annualized | If called | If called, ann. | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $955 | 0.30 | $9.85 Sep 28 | $985.00 | 1.07% | 12.2% | 4.54% | 51.8% | 20 | 26 |
| 0.20Δ | $970 | 0.20 | $5.86 Sep 28 | $586.00 | 0.63% | 7.2% | 5.74% | 65.4% | 36 | 23 |
Snapshot #96 · session 2026-09-28 · captured 22:22 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ spot · if called = (premium + strike − spot) ÷ spot · annualized × 365 ÷ 32
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Yield on spot | Annualized | If called | If called, ann. | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $985 | 0.31 | $18.10 Sep 28 | $1,810.00 | 1.96% | 8.8% | 8.69% | 39.1% | 9 | 18 |
| 0.20Δ | $1020 | 0.20 | $9.41 Sep 28 | $941.00 | 1.02% | 4.6% | 11.54% | 52.0% | 523 | 27 |
Snapshot #96 · session 2026-09-28 · captured 22:22 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ spot · if called = (premium + strike − spot) ÷ spot · annualized × 365 ÷ 81
COST volatility, dividends and liquidity
- Implied volatility (ATM, ≈30 days)
- 18.8%session 2026-09-28
- IV rank / IV percentile
- Unavailable1
- Next earnings
- Unavailable2
- Next ex-dividend
- None announcedchecked Sep 28, 2026
- Open interest, stored window
- 15,331 contractssession 2026-09-28
- Largest open-interest line
- $820 put · Dec 18 · 2,014
- Bid/ask spread
- Unavailable3
- Options liquidity rank
- #89 of 441 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 (1 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.