The Volatility & Greeks View presents theoretical information based on and calculated using the Black-Scholes Option Pricing model. The table displays end-of-day options with a different set of information for the options trader to help monitor and analyze your risk. "In-the-money" calls are puts are highlighted:
In-the-Money - Puts: Strike Price is greater than the Last Price
In-the-Money - Calls: Strike Price is less than the Last Price
For the selected Options Expiration date, the information listed at the top of the page includes:
- Options Expiration: The last day on which an option may be exercised, or the date when an option contract ends. Also includes the number of days till options expiration (this includes weekends and holidays).
- Implied Volatility: The overall Implied Volatility for all options for this futures contract.
- Price Value of Option Point: The intrinsic dollar value of one option point. To calculate the premium of an option in US Dollars, multiply the current price of the option by the option contract's point value. (Note: The point value will differ depending on the underlying commodity.)
Fields displayed on the Futures Volatility & Greeks View include:
- Strike - The price at which an option purchaser may buy or sell the underlying commodity futures contract regardless of its current price.
- Implied Volatility - Implied Volatility can help traders determine if options are fairly valued, undervalued, or overvalued. It can therefore help traders make decisions about option pricing, and whether it is a good time to buy or sell options. Implied volatility is determined mathematically by using current option prices in a formula that also includes Standard Volatility (which is based on historical data). The resulting number helps traders determine whether the premium of an option is "fair" or not. It is also a measure of investors' predictions about future volatility of the underlying stock.
- Delta - Delta measures the sensitivity of an option's theoretical value to a change in the price of the underlying asset. It is normally represented as a number between minus one and one, and it indicates how much the value of an option should change when the price of the underlying stock rises by one dollar.
- Gamma - Gamma measures the rate of change in the delta for each one-point increase in the underlying asset. It is a valuable tool in helping you forecast changes in the delta of an option or an overall position. Gamma will be larger for the at-the-money options, and gets progressively lower for both the in- and out-of-the-money options. Unlike delta, gamma is always positive for both calls and puts.
- Theta - Theta is a measure of the time decay of an option, the dollar amount that an option will lose each day due to the passage of time. For at-the-money options, theta increases as an option approaches the expiration date. For in- and out-of-the-money options, theta decreases as an option approaches expiration.
- Vega - Vega measures the sensitivity of the price of an option to changes in volatility. A change in volatility will affect both calls and puts the same way. An increase in volatility will increase the prices of all the options on an asset, and a decrease in volatility causes all the options to decrease in value.
- IV Skew - (Implied Volatility Skew) The difference between a specific out-of-the-money option's volatility and the at-the-money option's volatility.
Logged in Barchart Members can set a preference for how this page displays.
- Select your desired number of strikes
- 5 Strikes +/-
- Near-the-Money (10 Strikes +/-)
- 20 Strikes +/-
- 50 Strikes +/-
- All Strikes
- Select the page layout (Side-by-Side, Stacked)
- Sort the Strike column in ascending or descending order
- Finally, click the "Make this my default view" link top right of the page to save your preference for the next time you visit the page.
