JPM options analytics

Each curve above is one expiration. The vertical position is implied volatility; the horizontal position is the delta of the contract it was read from. For US equities the curve normally slopes upward to the right, meaning out-of-the-money puts carry higher implied volatility than equidistant calls.

The 25-delta risk reversal summarises that slope as a single number: the 25-delta put volatility minus the 25-delta call volatility. The butterfly summarises the curvature: the average of the two wings minus the at-the-money reading.

The term structure is the at-the-money implied volatility of each listed expiration, plotted against how far away that expiration is. Its usual shape for a calm underlying slopes gently upward, because a longer horizon admits more uncertainty.

It inverts when the market prices a dated event: an expiration that captures a scheduled announcement carries the variance of that event on top of ordinary trading, so a shorter contract can print a higher volatility than a longer one.

The implied move is read from the at-the-money straddle on the first expiration strictly after the report date, converted to a one-standard-deviation move and divided by the forward. Realised moves are the close-to-close return across the event, measured from the session before the release to the session after it.

Report dates that have already happened come from the company’s own 8-K filing and are exact. A date still in the future is either one the company has announced, or an estimate from its reporting cadence.