Guides

The numbers options traders watch, what each measures, how it is worked out, and how to read it, with where Options Meerkat shows it.

• IV rank and IV percentileTwo ways of saying whether a stock's implied volatility is high or low against its own past, and why they can disagree.
• Implied vs realized volatilityWhat options price in against what the stock actually moves, and how the gap says whether premium is rich or cheap.
• Unusual options activityContracts trading far beyond their open interest: what counts as unusual, and how to tell real positions from noise.
• Gamma exposure (GEX)How option dealers' hedging may damp a stock's moves or feed them, and where the gamma flip and the walls are.
• Volatility skewWhy out-of-the-money puts usually cost more than calls, and what it means when that gap widens or narrows.
• The expected moveThe range options price in for a stock by an expiry, worked out from implied volatility, and how to use it around earnings.