Options Whale · Learning library
Understanding volatility term structure
One stock, several horizons
Volatility term structure compares implied volatility across expirations. Options Whale uses near-at-the-money contracts so the comparison is less distorted by different strike positions. The selected contracts and their quote timestamps remain part of the research record.
Locate the event
An expiration before earnings excludes the report. The first suitable expiration containing the report includes event uncertainty over a shorter horizon. Later expirations include the same event plus more trading time. Annualized IV can therefore show an event spike even when the longer-dated options cost more in dollars.
The platform marks the earnings-containing expiration and records front/back IV differences. Labels such as EVENT_SPIKE, FLAT, or BACK_RICH summarize the versioned classifier rules; they are not standalone trade instructions.
Why calendars need more context
A calendar spread trades options at different expirations. Its value depends on the volatility of each leg, stock movement, time, and whether either leg spans earnings. A single net-vega value is a local sensitivity, not a full model of how the two expirations will move.
Practical checks
Verify the event date, session, liquidity, and expiration relationship before reading a slope as an anomaly. Missing expirations or stale prices can produce a misleading curve. Compare current observations with event-relative IV and inspect rejection reasons on the research page.