The Options Summary page lists key options metrics for a symbol.
At the top of the page, 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 page then shows 4 sections:
Volatility
Implied volatility helps you assess whether options are relatively cheap or expensive and allows you to anticipate the magnitude of future price moves. (Read more here.)
IV figures are based on the nearest monthly expiration, at least 30 days from expiration.
- IV Rank: Measures how current implied volatility compares to its range over the past 52 weeks, with a higher value reflecting increased volatility.
- IV Percentile: Shows the percentage of days over the past year that had lower IV than today.
- IV Categories: Very High IV (90+), High IV (70-90), Average IV (30-70), Low IV (10-30), Very Low IV (under 10)
- Rising IV: Implied volatility is outside the extreme ranges and increasing over time, as well as greater than historical volatility.
- Falling IV: Implied volatility is outside the extreme ranges and decreasing over time, as well as less than historical volatility.
Below the chart is the current Implied Volatility reading and daily change, followed by the Historical Volatility, as well as their ratio. The IV/HV ratio provides a measurement of whether options are overpriced, based on a high reading, or underpriced if the value is significantly less than 1.0.
To complete the Volatility assessment are the 5-day, 1-month and 3-month average implied volatility values, as well as the highest and lowest readings over the past 3-months and 52-weeks.
The Volatility tab provides a compressive overview of how volatility will affect the trade, enabling you to make a more informed decision.
Trend
The Trend tab provides a summary of the current market direction for the underlying security based on popular short-, medium-, and long-term indicators. It helps determine whether market sentiment is bullish, bearish, or neutral.
- Short-Term: Based on the 20-day moving average.
- Medium-Term: Based on the 50-day moving average.
- Long-Term: Based on the 100-day moving average.
A green chart means the trend is bullish, defined as the price is above the moving average.
A red chart means the trend is bearish, defined as the price is below the moving average.
The direction of the arrow signifies the strength of the trend; with a vertical arrow implying a strong trend, the flatter the arrow reflects the proximity of the trend to reversing.
Below the chart are the values for the moving average, color-coded to match the trend.
- Moving Averages: Reflects the values of the moving averages, color-coded to match the trend.
- ATR (Average True Range): Reflects price movement over the past 20 days. Traders use multiples of ATR to set price targets and stops.
- RSI (Relative Strength Index): Shows the strength of price activity over the past 20 days. Commonly used to figure out whether the market is overbought (high reading) or oversold (low reading). It can also be used as a leading indicator compared to the moving average; a high RSI in a short-term bearish trend could suggest a forthcoming price rally.
- Trend Seeker®: Barchart’s proprietary indicator combines volatility, wave theory, and the 50-day exponential moving average to give Buy/Sell/Hold signals.
- 52-Week High/Low: Historical price range, which can often function as support/resistance levels.
Use the Trend analysis to align your options strategy with prevailing trends and confirm directional setups or reversals.
Expected Move
Expected Move projects the potential range, on 85% of the at-the-money straddle's value, that the underlying may trade through expiration.
- Chart: Includes a 6-month historical daily price chart of the underlying security, which highlights recent price movement.
- Earnings: Earning are displayed on the chart [E] for stocks.
- Expected Range: The green and red lines are the upper and lower bounds where the stock is anticipated to trade within up to the expiration date.
Below the chart is a detailed overview, including the contract's expiration, days to expiration, and the contract's implied volatility reading based on the call and put implied volatility readings immediately above and below the underlying price.
The expected move is displayed both as a price and percentage, as well as the anticipated price range based on the current underlying price. For stocks, we highlight the latest available earnings date as well as the average price move based on the last 4 earnings events.
Use the Expected Move to evaluate if your strategy is positioned within, outside, or around the expected move range, providing a greater level of confidence in your trade.
Options Put/Call Ratio
The put-call ratio for volume and open interest can be used to estimate changes in market sentiment within specific time-frames. The widget shows the last 6-months of options data for the symbol, with Put/Call totals for each. Analyzing this information can help you spot developing trends in long and short options trading activity.
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.
- Expected Move: The Expected Move and Percent Expected Move, based on the nearby ATM Options Series.
- 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.
- Expected Range: The lowest to highest expected move based on the nearby ATM Options Series.
