XLF wheel: cash-secured put & covered-call yields
State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF · ETFs · $54.84 close on Sep 25, 2026
What the Sep 25, 2026 close says about XLF
At 19.0% implied volatility, the options market is pricing a one-standard-deviation move of about $3.23 (5.9%) in XLF by Oct 30, 2026, 35 days out.
Selling the $53.50 put (−0.28Δ) for $0.51 means assignment would leave a cost basis of $52.99, 3.4% below the $54.84 close.
The 84-day 0.30Δ put pays 1.7× the premium of the 35-day one for 2.4× the time — more premium per day on the 35-day contract ($0.015 vs $0.011).
At 0.30Δ on the Oct 30 expiry the put yields 0.95% on its strike and the call 0.84% on spot: puts pay 1.1× what calls do on XLF this session.
Moving down to the $53 put (−0.24Δ) buys 0.9% more room below spot and keeps 84% of the 0.30Δ premium.
Open interest in the stored window totals 384,083 contracts; the largest single line is the $50 put expiring Dec 18 with 111,403 (29.0% of the window).
The builder re-quotes every leg from the live chain when it opens; tracking is free to start.
Cash-secured puts on XLF
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Cash secured | Period yield | Annualized | Breakeven | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $53.50 | −0.28 | $0.51 Sep 25 | $51.00 | $5,350 | 0.95% | 9.9% | $52.99 | 346 | 152 |
| 0.20Δ | $53 | −0.24 | $0.43 Sep 25 | $43.00 | $5,300 | 0.81% | 8.5% | $52.57 | 53 | 3 |
Snapshot #4 · session 2026-09-25 · captured 08:07 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ strike · annualized = yield × 365 ÷ 35
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Cash secured | Period yield | Annualized | Breakeven | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $53 | −0.30 | $0.89 Sep 25 | $89.00 | $5,300 | 1.68% | 7.3% | $52.11 | 10,581 | 31 |
| 0.20Δ | $51 | −0.20 | $0.52 Sep 25 | $52.00 | $5,100 | 1.02% | 4.4% | $50.48 | 13,145 | 22 |
Snapshot #4 · session 2026-09-25 · captured 08:07 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ strike · annualized = yield × 365 ÷ 84
Covered calls on XLF
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Yield on spot | Annualized | If called | If called, ann. | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $56.50 | 0.29 | $0.46 Sep 25 | $46.00 | 0.84% | 8.7% | 3.87% | 40.3% | 211 | 7 |
| 0.20Δ | $57 | 0.24 | $0.34 Sep 25 | $34.00 | 0.62% | 6.5% | 4.56% | 47.5% | 415 | 5 |
Snapshot #4 · session 2026-09-25 · captured 08:07 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ spot · if called = (premium + strike − spot) ÷ spot · annualized × 365 ÷ 35
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Yield on spot | Annualized | If called | If called, ann. | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $58 | 0.27 | $0.64 Sep 25 | $64.00 | 1.17% | 5.1% | 6.93% | 30.1% | 28,501 | 533 |
| 0.20Δ | $59 | 0.20 | $0.45 Sep 25 | $45.00 | 0.82% | 3.6% | 8.41% | 36.5% | 9,014 | 72 |
Snapshot #4 · session 2026-09-25 · captured 08:07 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ spot · if called = (premium + strike − spot) ÷ spot · annualized × 365 ÷ 84
XLF volatility, dividends and liquidity
- Implied volatility (ATM, ≈30 days)
- 19.0%session 2026-09-25
- IV rank / IV percentile
- Unavailable1
- Next earnings
- Unavailable2
- Next ex-dividend
- None announcedchecked Sep 27, 2026
- Open interest, stored window
- 384,083 contractssession 2026-09-25
- Largest open-interest line
- $50 put · Dec 18 · 111,403
- Bid/ask spread
- Unavailable3
- Options liquidity rank
- Unavailable4
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.
- Not ranked yet — liquidity ranks are computed at the weekly re-rank of the whole universe.