Definition · updated 2026-10-22
IV rank
IV rank places today's implied volatility within its own range over the past year: 0 means IV is at its 52-week low, 100 at its high. Above 50 says options are expensive by the stock's own standards, which favours selling premium; below 20 favours buying it. OptionScout computes it daily for every ticker at /implied-volatility.
See it live: /implied-volatility.
IV rank versus IV percentile
Rank compares with the extremes: (today − low) ÷ (high − low). Percentile counts how many days in the year were lower. A stock whose IV ran 20% to 80% during one crash and sits at 35% today has a rank of 25 but a percentile near 70, because most days were calmer than today. A single spike drags rank down for months while percentile keeps counting, so read the two together; neither says anything about direction.
How OptionScout computes it
Every session the at-the-money implied volatility of the expiration nearest 30 days (call and put averaged) is stored for each ticker in the universe, backfilled from daily option prices. The ticker pages show rank, percentile, the 52-week high and low with their dates and a one-year sparkline; a ticker needs at least 60 stored sessions before a rank is shown.
Frequently asked questions
- What IV rank is good for selling options?
- Many premium sellers want 50 or higher, so they are paid above the stock's usual level. The rank says nothing about why IV is high; check for earnings or news before selling into it.
- Does the OptionScout scanner use IV rank?
- The scanner prices each play from the chain's live implied volatility and computes probability of profit from the breakeven; IV rank is a filter you apply on top, not an input the score depends on.
- Where can I see a ticker's IV rank for free?
- At /implied-volatility/<ticker>: today's rank and percentile, the 52-week IV high and low with dates, the term structure and the skew, refreshed every session, no account needed.