Option Volatility And Earnings Report For Aug 10-14

Option Volatility And Earnings Report For Aug 10-14 Gavin McMaster Mon, August 10, 2026 at 1:00 PM GMT+2 3 min read AMAT CSCO RKLB CRWV American flag on NY Stock Exchange by Chameleonseye via iStock This week is much more sedate on the earnings front after a busy few weeks, which could be a good or a bad thing depending on your approach. This week we have Cisco Systems (CSCO), RocketLab (RKLB), CoreWeave (CRWV) and Applied Materials (AMAT) as the main companies reporting. Before a company reports earnings, implied volatility is usually high because the market is unsure about the outcome of the report.

Speculators and hedgers create huge demand for the company's options which increases the implied volatility, and therefore, the price of options. More News from Barchart Complacency in Gold May Be Hiding the Next Big Move Advanced Micro Devices Dips on Lower FCF, But Short Put Plays Attract Value Investors Cisco Systems Is In a Trading Range Ahead of Earnings - Shorting OTM Puts and Calls Works Markets move fast. Keep up by reading our FREE midday Barchart Brief newsletter for exclusive charts, analysis, and headlines.

After the earnings announcement, implied volatility usually drops back down to normal levels. Let's take a look at the expected range for these stocks. To calculate the expected range, look up the option chain and add together the price of the at-the-money put option and the at-the-money call option.

Use the first expiry date after the earnings date. While this approach is not as accurate as a detailed calculation, it does serve as a reasonably accurate estimate. Monday RKLB – 13.

6% B – 5. 9% Tuesday CRWV – 14. 6% LITE – 13.

8% SE – 11. 6% Wednesday CSCO – 8. 0% Thursday NU – 6.

6% AMAT – 9. 6% JD – 5. 3% Friday Nothing of note Option traders can use these expected moves to structure trades.

Bearish traders can look at selling bear call spreads outside the expected range. Bullish traders can sell bull put spreads outside the expected range, or look at naked puts for those with a higher risk tolerance. Neutral traders can look at iron condors.

When trading iron condors over earnings, it is best to keep the short strikes outside the expected range. When trading options over earnings, it is best to stick to risk defined strategies and keep position size small. If the stock makes a larger than expected move and the trade suffers a full loss, it should not have more than a 1-3% effect on your portfolio.

Stocks With High Implied Volatility We can use Barchart's Stock Screener to find other stocks with high implied volatility. Let's run the stock screener with the following filters: Total options volume: Greater than 10,000 Market Cap: Greater than 40 billion IV Rank: Greater than 70% Story Continues This screener produces the following results sorted by IV Rank. You can refer to this article for details of how to find option trades for this earnings season.

Last Week's Earnings Moves PLTR +29. 5% vs 11. 4% expected AMD +7.

0% vs 9. 9% expected PFE +1. 5% vs 3.

5% expected MCD +1. 2% vs 3. 8% expected ALAB +12.

7% vs 18. 3% expected ANET +3. 6% vs 11.

2% expected CAT +5. 6% vs 7. 2% expected SPOT -1.

7% vs 9. 1% expected MRK +0. 2% vs 4.

8% expected SNDK -6. 8% vs 18. 9% expected OXY +4.

1% vs 5. 5% expected UBER -5. 3% vs 7.

0% expected APP -19. 7% vs 13. 8% expected SHOP +17.

0% vs 12. 5% expected LLY +4. 9% vs 7.

5% expected DIS +3. 7% vs 6. 3% expected DASH +2.

4% vs 10. 2% expected DDOG -19. 0% vs 14.

4% expected COP +1. 5% vs 4. 4% expected NET +5.

6% vs 12. 1% expected ABNB +17. 4% vs 7.

1% expected BRK. B -0. 5% vs 2.

1% expected VST -0. 6% vs 7. 9% expected Overall, there were 18 out of 23 that stayed within the expected range.

16 out of 23 moved higher following their announcement. Unusual Options Activity TSLA, ADBE, TTD, MSTR, NVDA and MARA and all experienced unusual options activity last week. Other stocks with unusual options activity are shown below: Please remember that options are risky, and investors can lose 100% of their investment.

This article is for education purposes only and not a trade recommendation. Remember to always do your own due diligence and consult your financial advisor before making any investment decisions. On the date of publication, Gavin McMaster had a position in: NVDA, TSLA.

All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.