Volatility Term Structure charts plot the at-the-money implied volatility across expirations, which are an invaluable tool in determining options strategies based on anticipated changes in volatility. Backwardation is when volatility slopes downwards. Contango is when volatility slopes upwards, and a large increase signifies investors are expecting large moves in the underlying, such as around earnings.
Contango is plotted as a purple line and Backwardation is plotted as the yellow line. By default, the plot includes all active options contracts, however users can remove contracts by clicking on the Expiration Date Selected box and unchecking the expiration date, and then clicking Show Chart to redraw. You can hide either of these lines by clicking on the word at the top of the chart.
Implied Volatility by Delta allows users to overlay implied volatility based on the delta of the option's series. For example, Implied Volatility Delta 30 will plot the implied volatility value across expirations for Call which have a 0.30 delta and Puts with a -0.30 delta reading (deltas for puts are negative). You can view the corresponding strike through the Volatility & Greeks for the underlying security and expiration date.
Above the chart, we provide the following information:
- Latest Earnings:The next reported earnings date, or the latest earnings date as reported by the company (if no future date has been released). Stocks whose Next Earnings Date falls within the next 28 days are highlighted in red. In addition, we indicate whether earnings are released Before Market Open (BMO), After Market Close (AMC), and in the case where no time is announced, you will see this labeled as (--).
- Implied Volatility: The average implied volatility (IV) of the nearest monthly options contract that is 30-days out or more. IV is a forward looking prediction of the likelihood of price change of the underlying asset, with a higher IV signifying that the market expects significant price movement, and a lower IV signifying the market expects the underlying asset price to remain within the current trading range.
- Historic Volatility: The average deviation from the average price over the last 30 days. Historical Volatility is a measurement of how fast the underlying security has been changing in price back in time.
- IV Rank: The current IV compared to the highest and lowest values over the past 1-year. If IV Rank is 100% this means the IV is at its highest level over the past 1-year, and can signify the market is overbought.
- IV Percentile: The percentage of days with IV closing below the current IV value over the prior 1-year. A high IV Percentile means the current IV is at a higher level than for most of the past year. This would occur after a period of significant price movement, and a high IV Percentile can often predict a coming market reversal in price.
The Term Structure Chart allows you to select your desired expiration dates. You also have the option to plot specific IV Call and IV Put Delta on the chart.
The page starts updating for the new trading day at approximately 9:50a.m. ET. Options information is delayed approximately 25 to 30 minutes, and is updated approximately every 5-minutes through-out the trading day.
Note: Expired options are removed from the website Monday - Friday at 7:45pm ET.
Options Overview
Highlights important summary options statistics to provide a forward looking indication of investors' sentiment.
- Implied Volatility: The average implied volatility (IV) of the nearest monthly options contract that is 30-days or more out. IV is a forward looking prediction of the likelihood of price change of the underlying asset, with a higher IV signifying that the market expects significant price movement, and a lower IV signifying the market expects the underlying asset price to remain within the current trading range.
- 30-Day Historical Volatility: The average deviation from the average price over the last 30 days. Historical Volatility is a measurement of how fast the underlying security has been changing in price back in time.
- IV Percentile: The percentage of days with IV closing below the current IV value over the prior 1-year. A high IV Percentile means the current IV is at a higher level than for most of the past year. This would occur after a period of significant price movement, and a high IV Percentile can often predict a coming market reversal in price.
- IV Rank: The current IV compared to the highest and lowest values over the past 1-year. If IV Rank is 100% this means the IV is at its highest level over the past 1-year, and can signify the market is overbought.
- IV High: The highest IV reading over the past 1-year and date it happened.
- IV Low: The lowest IV reading over the past 1-year and date it happened.
- Put/Call Vol Ratio: The total Put/Call volume ratio for all option contracts (across all expiration dates). A high put/call ratio can signify the market is oversold as more traders are buying puts rather than calls, and a low put/call ratio can signify the market is overbought as more traders are buying calls rather than puts.
- Today's Volume: The total volume for all option contracts (across all expiration dates) traded during the current session.
- Volume Avg (30-Day): The average volume for all option contracts (across all expiration dates) for the last 30-days.
- Put/Call OI Ratio: The put/call open interest ratio for all options contracts (across all expiration dates).
- Today's Open Interest: The total open interest for all option contracts (across all expiration dates).
- Open Int (30-Day): The average total open interest for all option contracts (across all expiration dates) for the last 30 days.
