Implied volatility

Implied volatility (IV) is how big a move the options market is pricing in — the price of insurance against swings. The cell shows IV30, the yearly-rate volatility priced for the next 30 days, and a word (Low to Extreme) that compares it with the ticker's own past year.

Options are insurance

Think of car insurance: in a quiet street the premium is low; when a storm is forecast, it jumps. Options work the same way for a stock. When traders fear a big move, they pay more for options, and the implied volatility worked back from those prices rises. It is about the move people expect, not the move that already happened.

An IV30 of 20% means the options price a typical yearly move of about 20% — roughly 1.3% on a normal day.

The four levels

One reading means little alone: 30% is calm for a small tech stock and stormy for a bond fund. So today's IV30 is ranked against the ticker's own last year — a percentile. The 85th percentile means IV was lower on 85% of the days.

The colours are the ones the dashboard prints the word in.

The exact percentile is in the row popup. · Nd after it means less than a year of history so far.
≈ means approximate: rebuilt from weekly prices of expired options until enough daily history exists.
IV30 in place of a word means there is no history yet to compare against.

Fear rises, then fades

Phase 1: PANIC (IV expands)        │ Phase 2: BOTTOM (IV collapses)
───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────
Price breaks down; sellers hit     │ Selling runs out; price finds a floor
Everyone buys protection (puts)    │ Panic buying of protection stops
Option prices spike                │ Demand for insurance fades
IV → Extreme (e.g. 90th+)          │ IV drops fast

A Dip state needs volatility inside a set range, so a pullback while fear is still extreme usually reads Downtrend instead. Mellow reads the level only; it does not detect the collapse as a separate event. Details in Signal states.