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Covered Call Calculator

Live option-chain quotes. Annualized yield, breakeven, and assignment P&L for 195+ of the most-traded tickers — instantly.

Pick a ticker to begin

1

Each contract = 100 shares (so 100 shares).

$

Defaults to current price if you don't own the stock yet.

$

Auto-fills to the chain mid. Override with your actual fill price for accurate results.

Fill in the form to see your projected covered-call income.

What if you tracked every trade automatically?

This calculator answers the “what if” question on a single trade. CoverEdge answers it across your whole book — every position, every roll, every premium dollar — without a spreadsheet.

Auto-sync from 80+ brokers

SnapTrade pulls every option fill, expiration, and assignment into CoverEdge automatically. No CSV uploads.

AI roll recommendations

Managed AI scans your whole book daily and surfaces the highest-EV rolls — with strike, expiration, and net credit pre-calculated.

Ledger-grade P&L

Every premium, close, and assignment hits an immutable ledger. Reconciliation is built in. Tax season becomes a 5-minute export.

How to use a covered call calculator

A covered call is the simplest options-income trade: you own at least 100 shares of a stock, and you sell a call option against them. The buyer pays you a premium for the right (not the obligation) to buy your shares at the strike price by the expiration date. If the stock stays below the strike at expiration, the call expires worthless and you keep both the premium and the shares — that's the “return if flat” the calculator shows. If the stock finishes above the strike, your shares get called away at the strike price, and you bank the premium plus the capital gain on the stock — that's the “if called away” row.

What the headline numbers mean

  • Premium received — the total cash credited to your account when you open the trade. Equals premium per contract × number of contracts × 100.
  • Capital at risk— the dollar value of the underlying stock you're writing against. This is the denominator for every yield calculation.
  • Breakeven— your cost basis minus the premium per share. As long as the stock stays above this level at expiration, you're net profitable.
  • Annualized return — the percent yield extrapolated to a full year so you can compare a 7-day weekly against a 45-day monthly on the same scale. Formula: (return ÷ DTE) × 365.
  • If called away — total profit if the stock finishes above the strike and you get assigned. Equals (strike − basis) × shares + premium.

Picking a strike and expiration

Most covered-call sellers target a strike with delta between 0.20 and 0.35, which corresponds to roughly a 65–80% chance the call expires worthless. The strike dropdown shows the live delta for each contract so you can dial in the risk profile you want. Expirations 21–45 days out tend to offer the best balance of theta decay and time-to-be- wrong; the calculator defaults to the closest expiration in that window.

What this calculator doesn't do

This is a single-trade projection tool. It assumes you hold the position until expiration and either keep the shares or get assigned. Real-world covered-call income tracking has to account for: rolls (closing one call and opening another), partial fills, early assignment, dividend capture, wash-sale rules, and tax lot accounting. That's where CoverEdge comes in — every one of those events lands in an immutable ledger and feeds the dashboard automatically. Start a free 14-day trial below (no card) when you're ready for the real thing.

Frequently asked questions

How does this covered call calculator work?

Pick a ticker, set how many contracts you want to sell, choose an expiration and strike, and the calculator pulls live option-chain quotes to compute your premium received, breakeven, capital at risk, return-if-flat, return-if-called, and annualized yield. Everything updates instantly — no signup required.

What's annualized return on a covered call?

Annualized return is the percent yield you'd earn if you could repeat the same covered call trade every period for a full year. It's calculated as (premium ÷ capital at risk) × (365 ÷ days to expiration). It lets you compare a 7-day trade against a 45-day trade on an apples-to-apples basis.

What is the breakeven on a covered call?

Your breakeven is your stock cost basis minus the premium per share you collected. As long as the underlying stays above that price by expiration, the trade is profitable regardless of assignment outcome.

What happens if my covered call gets assigned?

If the stock closes above your strike at expiration, the call buyer exercises and your shares are called away at the strike price. You keep the full premium. Your total profit equals (strike − cost basis) × shares + premium received. The 'If called away' row shows this number live.

Why are some tickers missing from the list?

The free calculator runs on a curated allowlist of the most actively-traded US stocks and ETFs (currently 200+ tickers). To analyze any optionable symbol, including small-caps and LEAPs, start your free 14-day Pro trial — no credit card required.

Is the option-chain data real-time?

Quotes are sourced from Tradier (institutional-grade) with sub-15-minute delay outside of market hours. During regular trading hours, prices refresh every couple of minutes. The result panel notes 'delayed quote' when the data isn't live.

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