Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF (CTA) Volatility Skew
Implied volatility skew shows how IV varies across strike prices for a given expiration. Steeper skews indicate higher demand for downside protection relative to upside speculation.
Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF (CTA) operates in the Financial Services sector, specifically the Asset Management industry, with a market capitalization near $1.74B, listed on AMEX, carrying a beta of -0.13 to the broader market. The Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF (CTA) seeks long term capital appreciation by systematically investing in futures in an attempt to create an absolute return profile, that also has a low correlation to equities, and can provide support in risk-off events. public since 2022-03-08.
Snapshot as of May 15, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $32.02
- ATM IV
- 30.0%
- IV Skew 25Δ
- -0.135
- IV Rank
- 4.4%
- IV Percentile
- 61.1%
- Term Structure Slope
- 0.069
As of May 15, 2026, Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF (CTA) at-the-money implied volatility is 30.0%. IV rank is 4.4% (where 0% is the 52-week low and 100% is the 52-week high). IV percentile is 61.1%. The 25-delta skew is -0.135: puts carry meaningful premium over calls, a classic equity downside-protection skew. High IV rank typically favors premium-selling strategies; low IV rank favors premium-buying.
CTA Strategy Selection at Current Volatility Levels
For Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF options at 30.0% ATM IV, low IV rank (4.4%) favors premium-buying or long-vol structures: long calls or puts, debit spreads, calendar spreads, long straddles. The risk: low-rank regimes can persist for months while time decay eats premium-buyers alive. The 25-delta skew is meaningfully put-skewed, so put-credit spreads capture more premium for the same width than call-credit spreads. Pair the vol-rank read with the dealer-gamma view and the upcoming-events calendar to confirm the strategy fits both the structural regime and the path-dependent risk. The variance risk premium - the persistent gap between implied and subsequently realized vol - is positive in equity markets on average; high IV rank typically reflects a stretch where the premium is wider than usual.
Learn how volatility skew is reported and how to read the data →
Frequently asked CTA volatility skew questions
- What is the current CTA ATM implied volatility?
- As of May 15, 2026, Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF (CTA) at-the-money implied volatility is 30.0%. IV rank is 4.4% on a 0-100% scale anchored to the 1-year IV range. ATM IV is the volatility input that makes a Black-Scholes-equivalent model reproduce the listed at-the-money option prices.
- Is CTA IV high or low historically?
- IV is subdued relative to its 1-year history, conditions that typically favor premium-buying strategies (long calls, long puts, debit spreads, calendar spreads).
- What does CTA volatility skew tell options traders?
- Volatility skew is the pattern by which IV varies across strikes for a given expiration. Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF carries the typical equity downside-protection skew: 25-delta puts price meaningfully richer than 25-delta calls. Skew matters for risk-defined strategy selection: when downside puts are rich, put-credit spreads capture more premium; when upside calls are rich, call-credit spreads or covered-call writes harvest more.