IV Rank
Where today's implied volatility sits between its yearly high and low, from 0 to 100.
Definition
IV Rank places current implied volatility on a 0 to 100 scale relative to its range over a lookback period (commonly one year). A rank of 0 means IV is at its lowest point in that window, 100 means it is at its highest, and 50 means it sits exactly halfway between the two extremes.
Why it matters
Raw IV figures are hard to judge in isolation — an IV of 15% might be high for one instrument and low for another. IV Rank normalises this so you can quickly see whether options are expensive or cheap by recent standards. Many traders sell premium when IV Rank is high (volatility is likely to revert lower) and prefer buying or debit structures when it is low. It is widely used to time entries for strategies like straddles, strangles and credit spreads.
Example
Over the past year Nifty's implied volatility ranged from a low of 10% to a high of 30%. Today it is 25%. IV Rank = (25 - 10) / (30 - 10) = 15 / 20 = 0.75, or an IV Rank of 75 — meaning current IV is in the upper quarter of its yearly range, so options look relatively rich.
Formula
IV Rank = (Current IV - 52-week Low IV) / (52-week High IV - 52-week Low IV) x 100.
See it live
Read live implied volatility per strike on TradePulse's option chain to gauge whether premium is rich or cheap.