XLV wheel: cash-secured put & covered-call yields
State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF · ETFs · $166.20 close on Oct 1, 2026
What the Oct 1, 2026 close says about XLV
At 15.4% implied volatility, the options market is pricing a one-standard-deviation move of about $8.03 (4.8%) in XLV by Nov 6, 2026, 36 days out.
Selling the $162 put (−0.30Δ) for $1.56 means assignment would leave a cost basis of $160.44, 3.5% below the $166.20 close.
The 78-day 0.30Δ put pays 1.6× the premium of the 36-day one for 2.2× the time — more premium per day on the 36-day contract ($0.043 vs $0.032).
At 0.30Δ on the Nov 6 expiry the put yields 0.96% on its strike and the call 1.23% on spot: calls pay 1.3× what puts do on XLV this session.
Moving down to the $157.50 put (−0.18Δ) buys 2.7% more room below spot and keeps 41% of the 0.30Δ premium.
Open interest in the stored window totals 51,587 contracts; the largest single line is the $157 put expiring Dec 18 with 10,232 (19.8% of the window).
By options volume XLV ranks #241 of 441 names in our universe.
Near-the-money options volume (144) is 24% below its 2-session average.
The builder re-quotes every leg from the live chain when it opens; tracking is free to start.
Cash-secured puts on XLV
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Cash secured | Period yield | Annualized | Breakeven | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $162 | −0.30 | $1.56 Oct 1 | $156.00 | $16,200 | 0.96% | 9.8% | $160.44 | 15 | 1 |
| 0.20Δ | $157.50 | −0.18 | $0.64 Oct 1 | $64.00 | $15,750 | 0.41% | 4.1% | $156.86 | 1 | 5 |
Snapshot #1048 · session 2026-10-01 · captured 22:21 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 | $161 | −0.31 | $2.50 Oct 1 | $250.00 | $16,100 | 1.55% | 7.3% | $158.50 | 806 | 8 |
| 0.20Δ | $158 | −0.23 | $1.86 Oct 1 | $186.00 | $15,800 | 1.18% | 5.5% | $156.14 | 2,316 | 35 |
Snapshot #1048 · session 2026-10-01 · captured 22:21 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ strike · annualized = yield × 365 ÷ 78
Covered calls on XLV
| Target | Strike | Δ | Last trade | Premium / contract | Yield on spot | Annualized | If called | If called, ann. | OI | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.30Δ | $172 | 0.30 | $2.05 Oct 1 | $205.00 | 1.23% | 12.5% | 4.72% | 47.9% | 15 | 2 |
| 0.20Δ | $175 | 0.21 | $1.02 Oct 1 | $102.00 | 0.61% | 6.2% | 5.91% | 59.9% | 8 | 9 |
Snapshot #1048 · session 2026-10-01 · captured 22:21 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 | $175 | 0.32 | $2.58 Oct 1 | $258.00 | 1.55% | 7.3% | 6.85% | 32.0% | 8,575 | 459 |
| 0.20Δ | Unavailable1 | |||||||||
Snapshot #1048 · session 2026-10-01 · captured 22:21 UTC · 15-min delayed · yield = premium ÷ spot · if called = (premium + strike − spot) ÷ spot · annualized × 365 ÷ 78
XLV volatility, dividends and liquidity
- Implied volatility (ATM, ≈30 days)
- 15.4%session 2026-10-01
- IV rank / IV percentile
- Unavailable2
- Next earnings
- Unavailable3
- Next ex-dividend
- None announcedchecked Sep 29, 2026
- Open interest, stored window
- 51,587 contractssession 2026-10-01
- Largest open-interest line
- $157 put · Dec 18 · 10,232
- Bid/ask spread
- Unavailable4
- Options liquidity rank
- #241 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 0.20Δ traded this session
- We are building our own daily implied-volatility history (3 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.