COST Iron Condor Strategy
COST (Costco Wholesale Corporation), in the Consumer Defensive sector, (Discount Stores industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Australia, Spain, France, Iceland, China, and Taiwan. It offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories. The company offers sundries, dry groceries, candies, coolers, freezers, liquor, and tobacco and deli products; appliances, electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, garden and patio products, sporting goods, tires, toys and seasonal products, office supplies, automotive care products, postages, tickets, apparel, small appliances, furniture, domestics, housewares, special order kiosks, and jewelry; and meat, produce, service deli, and bakery products. It also operates pharmacies, opticals, food courts, hearing-aid centers, and tire installation centers, as well as 636 gas stations; and offers business delivery, travel, same-day grocery, and various other services online in various countries. As of August 29, 2021, the company operated 815 membership warehouses, including 564 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 105 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 30 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 16 in South Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 12 in Australia, 3 in Spain, 1 in Iceland, 1 in France, and 1 in China. It also operates e-commerce websites in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia.
COST (Costco Wholesale Corporation) trades in the Consumer Defensive sector, specifically Discount Stores, with a market capitalization of approximately $458.33B, a trailing P/E of 53.65, a beta of 0.91 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 844.06-1067.08, average daily share volume of 1.8M, a public-listing history dating back to 1986, approximately 333K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how COST stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.91 places COST roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 53.65 is on the rich side, which tends to correlate with higher earnings-window IV expansion as the market debates whether forward growth supports the multiple. COST pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a iron condor on COST?
An iron condor sells a call spread and a put spread at strikes outside spot, collecting net premium that is kept if the underlying stays inside the inner short strikes.
Current COST snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $1,048.80, ATM IV 26.48%, IV rank 67.69%, expected move 7.59%. The iron condor on COST below is built from the same end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 28-day expiry.
Why this iron condor structure on COST specifically: COST IV at 26.48% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a COST iron condor sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 7.59% (roughly $79.62 on the underlying). The 28-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated COST expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on COST should anchor to the underlying notional of $1,048.80 per share and to the trader's directional view on COST stock.
COST iron condor setup
The COST iron condor below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With COST near $1,048.80, the first option leg uses a $1,100.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed COST chain at a 28-day expiry; the cross-strike IV skew is reflected directly in the per-leg values rather than approximated. Quantity sizing assumes one contract per option leg (or 100 COST shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Call | $1,100.00 | $12.35 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $1,150.00 | $4.73 |
| Sell 1 | Put | $995.00 | $10.63 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $945.00 | $4.05 |
COST iron condor risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$1,420.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $1,420.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$3,580.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $980.80, $1,114.20
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.397
Max profit equals the net credit times 100 inside the inner strikes; max loss equals wing width minus credit times 100. Two breakevens at inner strikes plus and minus the credit.
COST iron condor payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the iron condor on COST. Each row is one sampled price point from the computed payoff curve; the full curve uses 200 price points internally before being summarized into 10 rows here.
| Underlying Price | % From Spot | P&L at Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| $0.01 | -100.0% | -$3,580.00 |
| $231.90 | -77.9% | -$3,580.00 |
| $463.80 | -55.8% | -$3,580.00 |
| $695.69 | -33.7% | -$3,580.00 |
| $927.59 | -11.6% | -$3,580.00 |
| $1,159.48 | +10.6% | -$3,580.00 |
| $1,391.38 | +32.7% | -$3,580.00 |
| $1,623.27 | +54.8% | -$3,580.00 |
| $1,855.16 | +76.9% | -$3,580.00 |
| $2,087.06 | +99.0% | -$3,580.00 |
When traders use iron condor on COST
Iron condors on COST are a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that profits if COST stock stays inside the inner short strikes; short strikes typically sit near 1 standard deviation from spot.
COST thesis for this iron condor
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for COST extends from approximately $969.18 on the downside to $1,128.42 on the upside. A COST iron condor is a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that pays off when COST stays inside the inner short strikes through expiration; the wing width should reflect the trader's tolerance for the maximum loss scenario where the underlying breaches an outer strike. Current COST IV rank near 67.69% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the iron condor thesis on COST should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Consumer Defensive name, COST options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to COST-specific events.
COST iron condor positions are structurally neutral / range-bound; the modeled P&L assumes European-style exercise at expiration and ignores early assignment, transaction costs, dividends paid before expiry on the stock leg (when present), and the bid-ask spread on the listed chain. COST positions also carry Consumer Defensive sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move COST alongside the broader basket even when COST-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a iron condor on COST carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical COST earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current COST chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a iron condor on COST?
- A iron condor on COST is the iron condor strategy applied to COST (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral / range-bound: An iron condor sells a call spread and a put spread at strikes outside spot, collecting net premium that is kept if the underlying stays inside the inner short strikes. With COST stock trading near $1,048.80, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed COST chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are COST iron condor max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals the net credit times 100 inside the inner strikes; max loss equals wing width minus credit times 100. Two breakevens at inner strikes plus and minus the credit. For the COST iron condor priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 26.48%), the computed maximum profit is $1,420.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$3,580.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a COST iron condor?
- The breakeven for the COST iron condor priced on this page is roughly $980.80 and $1,114.20 at expiration, derived from end-of-day chain premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The current COST market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 7.59%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a iron condor on COST?
- Iron condors on COST are a delta-neutral premium-collection structure that profits if COST stock stays inside the inner short strikes; short strikes typically sit near 1 standard deviation from spot.
- How does current COST implied volatility affect this iron condor?
- COST ATM IV is at 26.48% with IV rank near 67.69%, which is mid-range against its 1-year history. Strategy selection depends more on directional thesis and expected move than on a strong IV signal.