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Contracts, pricing, and Greeks
37- Call and Put Options: Rights, Obligations, and Settlement
- How to Read an Option Chain
- Strike Price: Contract Terms, Moneyness, and Selection
- Option Premium: Price, Value, and Quotes
- Option Moneyness: In, At, and Out of the Money
- Early Exercise: When Using an Option Before Expiration Can Make Sense
- American-, European-, and Bermudan-Style Options: Exercise Rights and Settlement
- Exercise by Exception: Expiration Instructions and Position Risk
- Index Options: Series, Settlement Values, and Cash Ledgers
- Cash-Settled Options: Official Values, Signed Cash, and Expiration
- ETF Options: Share Delivery, NAV, Adjustments, and Lifecycle
- Adjusted Options: Contract Memos, Deliverables, and Exercise Economics
- Option Chain Bid, Mid, and Ask: Quotes Versus Executable Prices
- Buying Calls: Executable Profit, Exercise, and Settlement
- Buying Puts: Bearish Trades, Protection, and Exercise
- Option Contract Multiplier, Deliverable, and Settlement Unit
- OCC: How Listed Options Are Cleared
- Put-Call Parity: Calls, Puts, Stock, and Financing
- Mini Options: Multiplier, Deliverable, and Contract-Specification Risks
- FLEX Options: Customized Listed Claims, Auctions, Clearing, and Exit Risk
- Covered Call Strike Selection: Start With the Price You Would Sell
- Covered Put: Short Stock Plus a Matched Short Put
- Married Put: Buying Stock with Downside Protection
- Autocallable Notes: Coupon Logic, Early Redemption, and Principal at Risk
- Call Ladder: Debit Domains, Credit Tails, and Uncovered Risk
- Dividends and Option Pricing: Forwards, Parity, and Early Exercise
- Geometric Brownian Motion: Measures, Exact Simulation, and Model Risk
- Option Exercise Boundary: When Early Exercise Can Be Optimal
- PutWrite Index: Premium Income with Collateralized Equity Downside
- Sticky Strike vs. Sticky Delta: Revaluing a Volatility Surface
- Put Ladder: Conditional Breakevens and Severe Downside Risk
- Expected Shortfall for Options: Loss Beyond VaR
- Cliquet Options: Contract Order, Reset Paths, and Model Risk
- Forward-Start Options: Payoff Units, Fixing, Forward Volatility, and Model Risk
- Lognormal Stock Prices: Assumption, Mathematics, and Limits
- Option Entry Checklist: Contract, Price, Risk, and Exit
- Option Breakeven Price: Expiration Formulas and Current P&L
Volatility and advanced pricing
42- Implied Volatility: Inversion, Quote Bounds, and Model Risk
- Delta and Gamma: Local Direction, Curvature, and Position Units
- Theta: Time Decay, Calendar Conventions, and Position Risk
- Vega: Volatility-Point Sensitivity and Surface Risk
- Implied vs. Realized Volatility: How to Compare Them
- Volatility Skew: Why Implied Volatility Differs by Strike
- Delta Hedging: Portfolio Units, Execution, and Residual Risk
- Net Greeks: Aggregating Delta, Gamma, Theta, and Vega
- Implied Volatility Term Structure: Compare Expirations Correctly
- Theta Decay: Why Option Time Value Does Not Fall Linearly
- Historical Volatility: Data, Estimators, and Annualization
- Option Delta Conventions: Signs, Scaling, Spot, and Forward Delta
- Black-Scholes-Merton Model: Contract, Inputs, Implied Volatility, and Greeks
- Binomial Option Pricing: Replication, Carry, Early Exercise, and Convergence
- Dealer Gamma Exposure: Units, Inventory Assumptions, and Hedge Direction
- Gamma-Theta Tradeoff: Units, Carry, Paths, and Full Repricing
- Rho: Measuring an Option's Interest-Rate Sensitivity
- Volatility Surface: Comparing Implied Volatility by Strike and Expiry
- Gamma Scalping: Self-Financing Hedge Ledgers, Paths, and Costs
- Volatility Smile: Reading Implied Volatility Across Strikes
- Forward Volatility: Units, Coordinates, Quote Ranges, and Event Variance
- Realized Variance: Formula, Annualization, and Measurement Choices
- Skew Dynamics: How the Implied-Volatility Surface Moves with Spot
- Volatility Carry: Conditional Return for Bearing Convexity Risk
- Volatility Cone: Comparing Realized Volatility Across Horizons
- IV Crush vs. Volatility Skew
- Charm, Vanna, and Vomma: Signs, Units, and Full Repricing
- Color Greek: Gamma's Local Sensitivity to Time
- Delta-Gamma Approximation: Local P/L, Units, and Repricing
- Dollar Gamma Exposure: Units, Scenario P/L, and Inferred GEX
- Dupire Local Volatility: From an Option Surface to a Diffusion
- Heston Model: Risk-Neutral Variance, Numerical Engines, and Calibration
- Lambda Greek: Option Price Elasticity Explained
- Local Volatility Model: From Option Prices to State-Dependent Volatility
- SABR Model: Alpha, Beta, Rho, Nu, Calibration, and Model Risk
- Speed Greek: How Gamma Changes When the Underlying Moves
- Stochastic Volatility Models: Random Variance, Risk Premia, and Smile Dynamics
- SVI Volatility Model: Fitting Total Variance Without Static Arbitrage
- Ultima Greek: How Vomma Changes with Implied Volatility
- Veta: How Vega Changes as Time Passes
- Volatility Interpolation: Connecting Sparse Option Quotes
- Zomma Greek: How Implied Volatility Changes Gamma
Events, arbitrage, and complex structures
38- 0DTE Options: Contract Timeline, Settlement, Greeks, and Account Risk
- Earnings Straddle Expected Move: Quote Proxy, Variance, and Execution
- Option Ex-Dividend Risk: Early Exercise and Short-Call Assignment
- LEAPS: How Long-Dated Options Work
- Max Pain: Calculating the Open-Interest Payoff Minimum
- U.S. Options Tax Basics: Contract, Event, and Reporting Path
- Expected Move: Define the Metric Before Using the Number
- Earnings Options: Price, Volatility, Execution, and Lifecycle
- Weekly Options: Expiration Choice, Theta, Gamma, and Event Risk
- U.S. Option Symbology
- Options Watchlist: Research Queue, Liquidity Gates, and Triggers
- Event Volatility: Total Variance, Jump Residuals, and Executable Risk
- Complex Order Books: Net Price, Ratios, Auctions, and Routing
- U.S. Federal Wash-Sale Rules for Options
- Employee Stock Options: Contract, Tax, Liquidity, and Concentration Ledgers
- No-Arbitrage Option Bounds: Calls, Puts, and Parity Checks
- Earnings Iron Condor Checklist: Price the Gap Before Selling the Range
- Option Market-Maker Inventory Risk
- Asian Options: Averaging Rules, Payoff Design, and Model Risk
- Bermudan Options: Exercise Schedules, Notice, Valuation, and Claim Risk
- Calendar Arbitrage: Total Variance, Forward Moneyness, and Execution
- Implied Correlation: Index Variance, Feasibility, and Dispersion
- Implied Forward Price: Discounted Parity and Executable Bounds
- Option Arbitrage: Parity, Conversions, Boxes, and Execution Risk
- Trinomial Tree Option Pricing: Three-State Lattice and Early Exercise
- Dispersion Trading: Index Variance, Constituent Variance, and Correlation
- Butterfly Arbitrage: Strike Convexity, Weighted Spreads, and Execution
- Chooser Options: Election Rights, Valuation, and Notice Control
- Conversion and Reversal Arbitrage: Executable Put-Call Parity
- Corridor Variance Swaps: Observation, Normalization, and Units
- Finite-Difference Option Pricing: Signs, Stability, Obstacles, and Convergence
- Jump-Diffusion Option Model: Pricing Discontinuous Moves
- Shout Options: Locking Intrinsic Value While Keeping Later Upside
- Variance Swap: Payoff, Realized Variance, and Notional Conventions
- Variance Swap Replication: From an Option Strip to Variance Exposure
- Earnings Options No-Trade Checklist: When Passing Is the Better Decision
- Option Event Risk Calendar: Earnings, Macro Releases, Dividends, and Expiration
- Net Roll Credit or Debit: Cash Flow Is Not Profit
Single-leg strategies and positions
38- Covered Call: Executable Premium, Exact Coverage, and Assignment
- Protective Put: Downside Floor, Insurance Cost, and Expiration
- Intrinsic and Time Value: Quotes, Bounds, and Exercise
- IV Crush: Why Options Lose Value After an Event
- Selling Options: Premium, Obligations, Margin, and Tail Risk
- Collar Strategy: Match the Shares, Floor, Cap, and Lifecycle
- Options Trading Journal
- Cash-Secured Put: Strike Funding, Assignment, and Stock Downside
- Rolling Options: Strikes, Expirations, and Order Mechanics
- Covered Call Roll: Executable Cash, Assignment, and New Risk
- Rolling a Cash-Secured Put: Realized Result, New Obligation, and Funding
- Poor Man's Covered Call: A Long-Call Diagonal, Not Covered Stock
- IV Rank vs. IV Percentile: Formulas, Uses, and Limits
- Option Price Improvement: Measuring Execution Quality
- Option P&L Attribution: Direction, Convexity, Time, and Volatility
- Delta Neutral: A Local Zero Target with Residual Risk
- Synthetic Short Stock: Payoff, Parity, and Assignment Risk
- Option Overlay Strategies: Adding Income or Protection to a Portfolio
- ISO vs. NSO Employee Stock Options
- Cash-Secured Put Entry Plan: Funding, Economic Cost, and Assignment
- Protective Collar: Set a Stock Floor by Giving Up Upside
- Barrier Options: Contract Events, Payoff States, and Model Risk
- Gap Options: Trigger Rules, Signed Payoffs, and Digital Replication
- Monte Carlo Option Pricing: Estimator, Error, and Model Risk
- Synthetic Covered Call: Cash-Secured Put Equivalence vs. PMCC
- Seagull Option Strategy: Payoff, Funding, and Short-Put Risk
- Option Duration: Term, Elasticity, and Interest-Rate Sensitivity
- Real Options Analysis: Valuing the Right to Wait, Expand, or Exit
- Compound Options: Two Option Layers, Two Decisions, and Contract-Specific Settlement
- Guts Strategy: Crossed Strikes, Executable Cost, and Assignment
- Interest Rates in Option Pricing: Curves, Carry, and Rho
- Lookback Options: Payoffs Based on the Path's High or Low
- Volatility Swap: Payoff, Convexity, and Variance-Swap Differences
- Delta-Hedged Long Call Plan: Inventory, Cash, and Rebalancing
- Long Call Exit Plan: Price, Time, Volatility, and Expiration
- Option Fill Price Playbook: Limits, Mid, and Multileg Net Prices
- Protective Put Cost Control: Pay for the Loss Layer You Need
- Option Trade and No-Trade Zones
Portfolio and risk management
23- Option Expiration: Dates, Clocks, Instructions, and Settlement
- Option Exercise and Assignment
- Probability ITM: A Model Output, Not a Win Rate
- Options Order Types and Position Instructions
- Physically Settled Options: Shares, Strike Cash, and Account Risk
- Do Not Exercise: Contrary Instructions at Option Expiration
- Options Commissions, Fees, and Total Trading Cost
- AM vs. PM Option Settlement: Control the Expiration Timeline
- Options NBBO and OPRA Market Data
- OTC vs. Listed Options: Terms, Clearing, Credit, and Exit
- Expiration-Day Position Checklist: Rebuild the Account from Actual Events
- Buy-Write Index: Methodology, Roll Accounting, and Replication
- Basket Options: Composition, Rebalancing, Correlation, and Settlement
- Implied Dividend Yield: Parity, Cash Schedules, and Carry Residuals
- Path-Dependent Options: Monitoring, State, and Payoff
- Short Put Assignment Playbook: Cash, Shares, Cost, and Next Steps
- Option Replicating Portfolios: State Payoffs and No-Arbitrage Value
- Breeden-Litzenberger Formula: Risk-Neutral Density from Option Prices
- Exchange Options: Margrabe Pricing and Relative-Value Risk
- Jelly Roll: Rolling a Synthetic Forward Across Expirations
- Section 1256 Options: Mark-to-Market, 60/40 Treatment, and Form 6781
- Vega Notional: Dollar Exposure per Volatility Point
- Option Roll Decision Tree: Close, Replace, or Let Expire
Risk controls and execution
31- Options Volume and Open Interest
- Assignment Risk: Exercise Processing, Delivery, and Account Control
- Gamma Risk: Units, Position Curvature, Hedging, and Full Repricing
- Pin Risk at Expiration: When the Stock Finishes Near the Strike
- Single-Stock Options: Company Events, Physical Settlement, and Contract Adjustments
- Option Liquidity Traps: When a Screen Price Is Not an Exit Price
- Options Position Sizing: Turn a Loss Budget into Contract Quantity
- Option Margin: Buying Power, Assignment, and Forced-Liquidation Risk
- Options Liquidity: Spread, Size, Depth, and Execution
- Legging Risk: Execution Risk in Multi-Leg Options
- Option Stress Testing: Joint Scenarios, Repricing, and Funding
- Vega Risk: When Implied Volatility Overwhelms Direction
- Theta Risk: Units, Portfolio Decay, Scenarios, and Lifecycle Controls
- Portfolio Margin for Options: Risk Scenarios, Offsets, and Liquidation
- Option Model Risk: Assumptions, Inputs, Calibration, and Implementation
- Dynamic Hedging: Rebalancing Risk Without Eliminating It
- SPAN Margin: Scenario Scanning, Offsets, and Implementation Layers
- Tail Risk Hedging: Design Protection Before a Market Shock
- FOMC Options Risk: Timing, Event Variance, Execution, and Settlement
- Option Value at Risk (VaR): Full-Revaluation Guide
- Risk Reversal: Directional Strategy, Skew Quote, and Assignment Risk
- Binary Options: Legal Perimeter, Settlement, Pricing, and Platform Risk
- Risk-Neutral Pricing: Replication, Martingale Probabilities, and Limits
- Risk-Neutral Density: Extracting State Prices from Option Quotes
- Self-Financing Hedge: Rebalancing Without External Cash
- Variance Risk Premium: Implied Versus Expected Realized Variance
- Quanto Options: Fixed Currency Conversion and Correlation Risk
- 0DTE Risk-Limit Checklist: Position, Daily Loss, and Expiration Controls
- Short-Premium Risk Budget: Size by Stress Loss, Not Premium
- Multileg Order Price Adjustment: Net Debit, Credit, and Fill Discipline
- Option Position Size by Stress Loss
Spreads and multi-leg strategies
40- Options Bid-Ask Spread: Quotes, Execution Cost, and Market Quality
- Vertical Spreads: Debit, Credit, Payoff, and Assignment
- Credit Spreads: Executable Credit, Defined Expiration Risk, and Assignment Control
- Debit Spreads: Executable Cost, Defined Expiration Risk, and Assignment Control
- Bull Call Spread: Debit, Breakeven, Capped Upside, and Assignment
- Bear Put Spread: Debit, Breakeven, Capped Downside Gain, and Assignment
- Calendar Spread: Two Expirations, Conditional Value, and Greeks
- Diagonal Spread: Two Strikes, Two Expirations, One Lifecycle
- Long Straddle: Buying a Large Move in Either Direction
- Iron Condor: Payoff, Breakevens, and Hidden Risks
- Iron Butterfly: Direction, Unequal Wings, and Lifecycle Risk
- Long Strangle: Lower Cost, Wider Move Required
- Short Straddle: Limited Premium, Two-Sided Tail Risk
- Short Strangle: Wider Profit Range, Unbounded Tail Risk
- Bull Put Spread: Credit, Breakeven, Defined Loss, and Assignment Risk
- Bear Call Spread: Credit, Breakeven, Defined Loss, and Assignment Risk
- Butterfly Spread: Payoff Geometry, Execution, and Assignment
- Synthetic Stock: Recreate Long or Short Shares with Options
- Box Spread Financing: Fixed Payoff, Implied Rate, and Execution Risk
- Calendar Spread Exit Plan: Executable P&L, Rolls, and Expiration
- Debit Spread Exit Plan: Executable Close, Time Stop, and Expiration Control
- Covered Strangle: Long Shares, a Covered Short Call, and a Funded Short Put
- Broken-Wing Butterfly: Unequal Wings, Tail Risk, and Assignment
- Call Ratio Backspread: Credit Domains, Loss Valley, and Convex Upside
- Long Call Condor: Four Strikes, Unequal Wings, and Valid Breakevens
- Box Spread: Four-Leg Construction, Fixed Payoff, and Arbitrage Limits
- Double Calendar: Two Strikes, Two Expirations, Four Legs
- Double Diagonal: Two Time Spreads with Different Strikes
- Iron Condor Adjustments: Rebuild the Position, Cash, and Risk
- Jade Lizard: Payoff, No-Upside-Loss Test, and Risks
- Ratio Call Spread: Low-Cost Upside with Uncovered Rally Risk
- Ratio Put Spread: Low-Cost Decline Exposure with Deep-Downside Risk
- Reverse Iron Condor: Four Legs, Break-Evens, and Expiration Risk
- Put Ratio Backspread: Downside Convexity and the Loss Valley
- Ratio Spreads: Read the Signed Legs Before the Strategy Name
- Christmas Tree Spread: Define the Legs Before the Name
- Strip and Strap Options: Directionally Tilted Long Straddles
- Vega Hedge with Calendar Spreads: A Term-Structure Plan
- Vertical Spread Strike Selection
- Put-Spread Portfolio Hedge: Sizing a Bounded Protection Zone