MELI wheel: cash-secured put & covered-call yields
Mercado Libre, Inc · Industrials · $1,712.41 close on Sep 28, 2026
What the Sep 28, 2026 close says about MELI
At 36.6% implied volatility, the options market is pricing a one-standard-deviation move of about $185.81 (10.9%) in MELI by Oct 30, 2026, 32 days out.
Selling the $1640 put (−0.32Δ) for $42.45 means assignment would leave a cost basis of $1,597.55, 6.7% below the $1,712.41 close.
The 81-day 0.30Δ put pays 1.6× the premium of the 32-day one for 2.5× the time — more premium per day on the 32-day contract ($1.327 vs $0.839).
Moving down to the $1560 put (−0.19Δ) buys 4.7% more room below spot and keeps 49% of the 0.30Δ premium.
Open interest in the stored window totals 7,099 contracts; the largest single line is the $1500 put expiring Dec 18 with 721 (10.2% of the window).
By options volume MELI ranks #197 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 MELI
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Cash secured | Period yield | Annualized | Breakeven | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $1640 | −0.32 | $42.45 Sep 28 | $4,245.00 | $164,000 | 2.59% | 29.5% | $1,597.55 | 27 | 6 |
| 0.20Δ | $1560 | −0.19 | $21.00 Sep 28 | $2,100.00 | $156,000 | 1.35% | 15.4% | $1,539.00 | 3 | 2 |
Snapshot #176 · session 2026-09-28 · captured 22:32 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 | $1580 | −0.30 | $67.98 Sep 28 | $6,798.00 | $158,000 | 4.30% | 19.4% | $1,512.02 | 38 | 7 |
| 0.20Δ | $1500 | −0.21 | $45.00 Sep 28 | $4,500.00 | $150,000 | 3.00% | 13.5% | $1,455.00 | 721 | 6 |
Snapshot #176 · session 2026-09-28 · captured 22:32 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ strike · annualized = yield × 365 ÷ 81
Covered calls on MELI
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Yield on spot | Annualized | If called | If called, ann. | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | Unavailable1 | |||||||||
| 0.20Δ | $1900 | 0.21 | $22.20 Sep 28 | $2,220.00 | 1.30% | 14.8% | 12.25% | 139.7% | 1 | 11 |
Snapshot #176 · session 2026-09-28 · captured 22:32 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 | $1940 | 0.31 | $62.52 Sep 28 | $6,252.00 | 3.65% | 16.5% | 16.94% | 76.3% | 27 | 2 |
| 0.20Δ | $2060 | 0.20 | $36.67 Sep 28 | $3,667.00 | 2.14% | 9.6% | 22.44% | 101.1% | 29 | 10 |
Snapshot #176 · session 2026-09-28 · captured 22:32 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ spot · if called = (premium + strike − spot) ÷ spot · annualized × 365 ÷ 81
MELI volatility, dividends and liquidity
- Implied volatility (ATM, ≈30 days)
- 36.6%session 2026-09-28
- IV rank / IV percentile
- Unavailable2
- Next earnings
- Unavailable3
- Next ex-dividend
- None announcedchecked Sep 28, 2026
- Open interest, stored window
- 7,099 contractssession 2026-09-28
- Largest open-interest line
- $1500 put · Dec 18 · 721
- Bid/ask spread
- Unavailable4
- Options liquidity rank
- #197 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.
- No contract near 0.30Δ traded this session
- 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.