Implied Volatility Crush Strategy
The Volatility Crush strategy is used with stocks that typically experience relatively low-to-moderate price moves (≤4%) following their Earnings Announcements (EA). The basic trade idea is to sell put or call options right before the EA, collecting a credit when options premium is very high due to elevated implied volatility (IV). You then close the position right after the EA by buying the option back much cheaper due to the significant drop in IV that occurs after the mystery of the EA disappears. In assessing this trade, you need to do your homework to ensure you collect sufficient premium to make the trade worthwhile.
This trade is practical due to the low-to-moderate price-move after the EA, which generally won’t significantly affect the options price, unlike an “action” stock, which experience great price moves post-EA. With these symbols, if you’re on the right side of the price move, that’s a great thing. But if you’re on the wrong side of the move, not so great. Consequently, by minimizing the effect of the post-EA price move, you have a much better chance to profit from the reduction in IV without it being ruined by a violent price move.
For this trade, open the position either (1) the night before the EA when the company announces earnings or (2) during the EA day when it announces post-market, generally capturing IV at or close to its peak.
This popular stockearnings screen will give you a list of stocks which do not react more than 4% fpost-EA. It includes only those stocks whose earnings are releasing next day.
Screen criteria:
- Earnings Date: Next Trading Day
- Predicted Move (Next Day): 4% or less
- Options Type: Weekly
Strategy Guideline:
- Options Strategy: Sell Calls, Sell Puts, Vertical Credit Spread, and Iron Condors
- Options Strike Price: Current Stock Price – (% Predicated Move x 2)
- Expiration Date: It should generally be the closest expiry immediately after the EA.
Number Of Trades:
On average, our proprietary algorithm generates about 10-20 trades per month. Since our algorithm crunches lot of earnings data to detect Volatility Crush options trading ideas, It generates more trades during the Earnings season and fewer trades in the off-Earnings Season.