Reverse Iron Condor

Quick Recap of What We're Looking For

You want stocks that are cheap to bet on volatility right now, but likely to become volatile soon. That means: low IV rank, an event on the horizon, historical volatility higher than current IV30, and enough trading volume that you can actually get in and out without getting fleeced on the spread.

Walking Through Your Table

IV30 % Rank — everything here is a decent starting point. Every single row shows a 35% rank. That's inside your "cheap" zone (under 30–40%), so on this filter alone, all eight are candidates. Nothing here screams "expensive," which is good — but it also means this column alone won't separate the winners.

Earnings/Events — this is where the list narrows fast. Today is August 27, 2026. Look at the dates:

• GENI (6-Aug), ROST (20-Aug), SE (11-Aug), AJG (30-Jul), PCOR (29-Jul) — all already happened. Whatever volatility move was coming from earnings is behind you, not ahead of you.
• EWC and ETHT have no earnings listed (they're an ETF, so that's expected).
• SHEL is the only one with a future, confirmed catalyst — 29‑Oct‑2026, BMO (before market open), and it's even highlighted in your scanner. That's your one true "event is still coming" name on this page.

Historical Vol vs. Current IV30 — checking if the market's asleep at the wheel.

Symbol	IV30	20D HV	1Y HV	Underpriced?
GENI	58.3	68.5	61.0	Yes, on both
AJG	28.6	33.2	29.7	Yes, on both
PCOR	47.5	54.3	48.9	Yes, on both
ETHT	104.0	97.7	122.3	Yes, on 1-year
SE	43.6	40.1	46.0	Yes, on 1-year
SHEL	21.2	20.4	21.7	Roughly even
ROST	24.3	24.6	22.4	Roughly even
EWC	12.8	11.4	14.9	Mixed

GENI, AJG, and PCOR show the clearest signs that the stock has historically moved more than what current pricing assumes — but remember, their catalysts have already passed, so you'd be relying on general "the stock just moves a lot" behavior rather than a specific upcoming trigger.

Liquidity — this is the deciding factor. Compared to the truly liquid names from before (100,000+ contracts), everything here is thin. But relatively speaking:

• SE: 7,786 (best on this page)
• SHEL: 4,170
• EWC: 2,106
• ROST: 2,898
• PCOR: 1,741
• AJG: 1,415
• ETHT: 680
• GENI: 582 (weakest)

A four-legged trade like a Reverse Iron Condor needs volume, and GENI and ETHT are risky here — you could get a good "story" on paper and still lose money to a bad fill.

Putting It Together

SHEL is the one name on this page that checks every box at once: cheap IV rank, a real event still ahead (Oct 29), historical vol roughly matching current IV (not wildly underpriced, but not overpriced either), and the best liquidity in the group. It's the most complete, low-drama candidate here.

GENI, AJG, and PCOR are interesting on the "market may be underpricing the real movement" front, but their catalysts already fired, so any big move now would have to come from general stock behavior, not a known event — a weaker thesis, and GENI's low volume makes it hard to trade cleanly anyway.

Everything else either lacks a real catalyst (EWC, ETHT), has already had its event pass (ROST, SE, AJG, PCOR, GENI), or is too thin to trade four legs comfortably.

One Important Caveat

Most of the earnings dates on this screen are in the past relative to today's date — that usually means this scanner data is stale or was pulled before those dates occurred. Before acting on any of this, refresh the scanner so you're working with current, forward-looking dates. A Reverse Iron Condor built around an earnings date that already happened isn't buying volatility ahead of an event — it's just an expensive bet on nothing in particular.

Inverse Iron Butterfly

This specific trade consists of four option legs with the same expiration date:

• Sell 87P: Short Put at the $87 strike price (defines the lower profit wing).
• Buy 91P: Long Put at the $91 strike price (the body).
• Buy 91C: Long Call at the $91 strike price (the body).
• Sell 95C: Short Call at the $95 strike price (defines the upper profit wing).

Think of Implied Volatility (IV) as the Price Tag on Option Fear and Hype.

When traders expect big drama (like earnings reports or court cases), option prices get expensive, and IV goes UP. When things are quiet, options get cheap, and IV goes DOWN.

The Golden Rule of Trading IV

• High IV = Expensive Options: Great time to SELL options to collect big payments (premiums), like selling insurance right before a storm.
  
  
• Low IV = Cheap Options: Great time to BUY options, like buying insurance when the skies are clear.
  
  

How to Read the Screener in Your Photo

Looking at Current IV30 alone doesn't tell you if IV is actually high or low for that specific stock—a tech stock always has higher IV than a utility stock. Instead, look at IV30 % Rank (the 6th column under Volatility).

1. High IV Rank (Example: UNM at 69% or HUM at 69%)

• What it means: Options for Unum or Humana are more expensive than they usually are 69% of the time over the last year.
  
  
• Strategy: Look to SELL options (e.g., Credit Spreads, Iron Condors, Covered Calls). You get paid high prices now, and when the event passes, IV drops ("IV Crush"), letting you buy them back cheap for a profit.
  
  

2. Low IV Rank (Example: TPR at 0% or NVO at 6%)

• What it means: Options for Tapestry or Novo Nordisk are extremely cheap compared to their normal prices.
  
  
• Strategy: Look to BUY options (e.g., Long Calls/Puts, Debit Spreads). You pay very little up front, so your risk is low if you want to bet on a big move.
  
  

Summary Checklist

• High IV Rank (>50%): Sell options → Collect expensive premiums → Profit when IV drops.
  
  
• Low IV Rank (<20%): Buy options → Pay cheap premiums → Profit when the stock moves or IV spikes.

To understand why a $2.00 drop represents a 1-standard-deviation (1-SD) move, let's look at the math that connects Implied Volatility (IV) to daily price expectations.

Step 1: The Math Behind the "Rule of 16"

Implied Volatility (IV30) is expressed as an annualized percentage move representing a 1-standard-deviation outcome over a full year.

To break an annual number down into a single day, options traders divide the annual IV by the square root of trading days in a year:

• There are roughly 252 trading days in a year.
  
  
• $\sqrt{252} \approx 15.87$ (rounded to 16 for quick math).
  
  

$$\text{Expected Daily Move (\%)} = \frac{\text{IV30}}{16}$$

Step 2: Breaking Down the $2.00 Move

Suppose a stock is trading at $100.00 with an IV30 of 32%:

1. Calculate Daily Percentage Move:
   
   
   $$\frac{32\%}{16} = 2\% \text{ per day}$$
2. Convert Percentage to Dollar Value:
   
   
   $$2\% \text{ of } \$100.00 = \mathbf{\$2.00}$$

This means the options market is pricing in a 1-standard-deviation range of $\pm \$2.00$ for the session (an expected trading channel of $98.00 to $102.00).

Step 3: What "1-Standard-Deviation" Means Statistically

Options pricing models rely on a normal distribution curve (the bell curve):

                  68% Probability (1-SD)
                /---------------------\
               /                       \
              /                         \
    =========|============|============|=========
          -$2.00       $100.00       +$2.00
          ($98)                       ($102)

• 68% Probability: Statistically, about 68% of all trading sessions will end with the stock closing inside the $\pm \$2.00$ range ($98.00 to $102.00).
  
  
• 32% Probability: Only 32% of sessions (about 1 out of every 3 days) will push outside this $2.00 boundary.
  
  

How Day Traders Use This Information

When the stock drops $2.00 by 10:30 AM, it reaches the $98.00 lower expected boundary. Here is how traders react:

• Mean-Reversion / Bounce Trades: Unless there is severe, unexpected news (an earnings leak, FDA denial, or macro shock), the market has already consumed its expected daily volatility budget. Pushing further down past $98.00 requires fresh selling volume. Day traders will look for reversal patterns to trade a bounce back toward the opening price or VWAP.
  
  
• Profit Taking: Short-sellers will take profit at the -$2.00 level because the statistical probability of the stock continuing to drop much further during the same session drops significantly.
  
  
• Option Premium Contraction: If the stock sits at $98.00 and stops falling, 0DTE (zero days to expiration) put options will begin losing value rapidly due to time decay (theta) as the market realizes the move has stalled at the 1-SD boundary.