UNH wheel: cash-secured put & covered-call yields
UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INCORPORATED (Delaware) · Financials · $377.83 close on Sep 28, 2026
What the Sep 28, 2026 close says about UNH
At 39.4% implied volatility, the options market is pricing a one-standard-deviation move of about $44.07 (11.7%) in UNH by Oct 30, 2026, 32 days out.
Selling the $360 put (−0.32Δ) for $10.61 means assignment would leave a cost basis of $349.39, 7.5% below the $377.83 close.
The 81-day 0.30Δ put pays 1.2× the premium of the 32-day one for 2.5× the time — more premium per day on the 32-day contract ($0.332 vs $0.153).
At 0.30Δ on the Oct 30 expiry the put yields 2.95% on its strike and the call 2.05% on spot: puts pay 1.4× what calls do on UNH this session.
Moving down to the $345 put (−0.20Δ) buys 4.0% more room below spot and keeps 55% of the 0.30Δ premium.
Open interest in the stored window totals 32,067 contracts; the largest single line is the $300 put expiring Dec 18 with 3,868 (12.1% of the window).
By options volume UNH ranks #174 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 UNH
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Cash secured | Period yield | Annualized | Breakeven | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $360 | −0.32 | $10.61 Sep 28 | $1,061.00 | $36,000 | 2.95% | 33.6% | $349.39 | 100 | 14 |
| 0.20Δ | $345 | −0.20 | $5.82 Sep 28 | $582.00 | $34,500 | 1.69% | 19.2% | $339.18 | 527 | 19 |
Snapshot #263 · session 2026-09-28 · captured 22:42 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 | $350 | −0.28 | $12.40 Sep 28 | $1,240.00 | $35,000 | 3.54% | 16.0% | $337.60 | 1,455 | 191 |
| 0.20Δ | $330 | −0.18 | $7.10 Sep 28 | $710.00 | $33,000 | 2.15% | 9.7% | $322.90 | 2,027 | 59 |
Snapshot #263 · session 2026-09-28 · captured 22:42 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ strike · annualized = yield × 365 ÷ 81
Covered calls on UNH
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Yield on spot | Annualized | If called | If called, ann. | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $405 | 0.30 | $7.75 Sep 28 | $775.00 | 2.05% | 23.4% | 9.24% | 105.4% | 15 | 6 |
| 0.20Δ | $420 | 0.20 | $4.75 Sep 28 | $475.00 | 1.26% | 14.3% | 12.42% | 141.6% | 182 | 36 |
Snapshot #263 · session 2026-09-28 · captured 22:42 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 | $420 | 0.28 | $9.50 Sep 28 | $950.00 | 2.51% | 11.3% | 13.68% | 61.6% | 1,068 | 15 |
| 0.20Δ | $440 | 0.19 | $5.45 Sep 28 | $545.00 | 1.44% | 6.5% | 17.90% | 80.6% | 1,099 | 4 |
Snapshot #263 · session 2026-09-28 · captured 22:42 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ spot · if called = (premium + strike − spot) ÷ spot · annualized × 365 ÷ 81
UNH volatility, dividends and liquidity
- Implied volatility (ATM, ≈30 days)
- 39.4%session 2026-09-28
- IV rank / IV percentile
- Unavailable1
- Next earnings
- Unavailable2
- Next ex-dividend
- None announcedchecked Sep 28, 2026
- Open interest, stored window
- 32,067 contractssession 2026-09-28
- Largest open-interest line
- $300 put · Dec 18 · 3,868
- Bid/ask spread
- Unavailable3
- Options liquidity rank
- #174 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.