Hold expiration fixed before reading the curve
Each smile is a cross-section of one underlying at one expiration and one observation time. Combining a weekly put with a quarterly call mixes maturity risk into the strike comparison. Select the exact expiration in the tool to narrow the snapshot. The first 250 returned contracts can be only part of the chain, and this page shows at most eight expirations.
For a forward-based view, enter the forward price for that expiration. The horizontal coordinate is K/F, where K is strike and F is the supplied forward. Without F, this tool explicitly uses spot K/S. A forward is not a price forecast. Financing and dividends can move it away from spot; borrow conditions and discrete dividends also matter. Check the contract settlement and exercise style before substituting a futures price or a parity estimate.
A worked smile with an absent quote
This hypothetical example fixes the same expiration, quote time and underlying, with spot S = $100 and supplied forward F = $102. IV values below are illustrative annualized inputs, not current market observations.
| Strike | Selected side | K/F | IV | Bid / ask | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $90 | Put | 0.8824 | 32% | $1.80 / $2.20 | 20% spread relative to $2.00 midpoint |
| $100 | Put | 0.9804 | 24% | $4.90 / $5.10 | 4% spread relative to $5.00 midpoint |
| $110 | Call | 1.0784 | 29% | $1.90 / $2.10 | 10% spread relative to $2.00 midpoint |
| $120 | Call | 1.1765 | Unavailable | No two-sided quote | Gap, not 0% IV |
Relative to the nearest-forward observation at $100, the $90 put is 8 IV percentage points higher and the $110 call is 5 points higher. This suggests a bent curve across these three observations, but it does not prove a symmetric smile. The tool requires five accepted strikes and both wings for threshold labels. At strike $100, K/S is 1.0000 while K/F is 0.9804: changing the reference changes the interpretation of moneyness.
Audit bid/ask before trusting a wing
The relative spread is 100 × (ask − bid) / ((ask + bid) / 2). A $0.10 / $0.90 quote has a 160% relative spread even though its absolute spread is only $0.80. A vendor IV from that market can be sensitive to the chosen premium. The default 50% spread and 30-minute quote-age limits are adjustable screening choices, not guarantees of liquidity or fair value.
The tool rejects absent IV, absent bid/ask, zero or crossed quotes, spreads above the chosen limit, missing timestamps and stale or future timestamps. Rejected observations remain in the audit table. It does not replace missing IV with zero or interpolate rejected points. Duplicate contracts at one strike and side, or missing/nonstandard share multipliers, are excluded rather than mixed. A multiplier of 100 alone does not verify identical deliverables; check corporate-action terms at the source. A strike absent from the response cannot be identified as a quoted market. Provider entitlements, delayed feeds and closed markets can leave no accepted points.
Displayed IV comes from the data provider, not a fresh inversion of the quoted midpoint. Quote time does not prove that IV or the separately fetched underlying price has the same timestamp. Bid-IV and ask-IV would require consistent option pricing inputs and a suitable exercise model; this page does not fabricate that band.
Curvature describes the bend; skew describes the slope
The tool fits IV = a × (K/reference − 1)² + b × (K/reference − 1) + c to at least five accepted points. Curvature is 2a; b is the local fitted slope at the reference. IV is decimal in this fit, so 24% is 0.24. Put and call wing differences are averages below 0.95 and above 1.05 moneyness minus the nearest-reference IV. Uneven strike spacing, gaps and the selected range can change the fit. It is not constrained to be arbitrage-free and does not measure an executable edge.
For a directional comparison of strike IV, use the volatility skew chart. This page focuses on the two wings, the reference price and data quality. Neither shape alone identifies the cause, predicts a return or establishes that an option is overpriced.
Check the TradingView contract, then compare the same inputs
- In the options chain, match the underlying, expiration, strike, call/put side and contract terms. Record the price type and quote time; a last trade is not the current bid/ask midpoint.
- Enter the same expiration here. Supply a dated forward for that maturity if available; otherwise retain the spot-proxy label. Review rejected points before discussing curvature.
- Use TradingView scenarios to examine chosen price, time and IV changes. Underlying OHLC bars alone cannot reconstruct an actual cross-strike implied-volatility smile because they do not supply option premiums or contracts.
- For further contract research, Pineify's AI Stocks & Options Picker has an options-chain view with IV, Greeks and bid/ask fields when available. Reconcile missing or differently timed fields before comparing results.
For information and education only, not investment advice. Options can lose their entire premium; short positions can create larger losses. A filtered quote is not a promise of a fill.
Sources and method
Reviewed October 18, 2026. CME explains smile convexity and skew. CME describes financing and dividend inputs in fair value. Massive documents snapshot fields, quote access and pagination. TradingView documents its options chain, and its scenario controls. The numeric example and quote filters are this page's stated assumptions.