Is FCA options pricing rich or cheap right now?

As of Jun 29, 2026, First Trust China AlphaDEX Fund (FCA) ATM IV is 22.7% against 20-day realized volatility of 29.8%. IV rank is 13.6%. Realized volatility currently exceeds implied: an inversion of the typical equity volatility risk premium that often precedes IV expansion.

What is the FCA variance risk premium?

The variance risk premium is the persistent gap between implied and subsequently realized volatility. In equity markets it averages positive because option sellers demand compensation for bearing variance shocks. FCA is currently pricing inverted to the historical pattern, which is one input to whether short-vol or long-vol structures carry their typical edge.

What does FCA IV rank mean for strategy selection?

IV rank normalizes the current ATM IV to its 1-year range: 0% is the low, 100% is the high. FCA's current rank of 13.6% signals where current pricing sits in its own 1-year history. High-rank regimes typically favor premium-selling structures (credit spreads, condors, covered calls); low-rank regimes typically favor premium-buying or long-volatility structures.

First Trust China AlphaDEX Fund (FCA) IV/HV History

Comparing implied volatility to historical (realized) volatility reveals whether options are priced rich or cheap relative to actual price movement. Persistent gaps can signal trading opportunities.

First Trust China AlphaDEX Fund (FCA) operates in the Financial Services sector, specifically the Asset Management industry, with a market capitalization near $53.9M, listed on NASDAQ, carrying a beta of 0.68 to the broader market. FCA offers broad China exposure with a twistit implements its AlphaDex methodology to select a concentrated portfolio of 50 stocks from the S&P China BMI universe based on a number of growth and value factors, subject to weighting constraints set at 15% above the sector percentages of the base index. public since 2011-04-21.

Snapshot as of Jun 29, 2026.

Spot Price: $27.21
ATM IV: 22.7%
HV 20-Day: 29.8%
HV 60-Day: 26.8%
IV Rank: 13.6%
IV Percentile: 6.0%

As of Jun 29, 2026, First Trust China AlphaDEX Fund (FCA) ATM implied volatility is 22.7%. 20-day realized volatility is 29.8%, producing an IV-HV spread of -7.1 vol points. Realized volatility currently exceeds implied, an inversion that can signal a pending IV expansion. IV rank is 13.6%.

How FCA iv/hv history Data Feeds Strategy Selection

Strategy selection on First Trust China AlphaDEX Fund options does not derive from any single metric in isolation. The iv/hv history view above sits inside a broader read: ATM IV currently sits at 22.7% and dealer gamma exposure is positive, so dealer hedging is mechanically mean-reverting. Combine the iv/hv history data here with the volatility-skew surface, dealer-gamma exposure, max-pain level, and upcoming-events calendar to build a positioning thesis. Risk-defined structures (credit spreads, debit spreads, iron condors) are usually safer than naked positions while the regime is uncertain; the data on this page anchors the inputs but does not by itself constitute a trade thesis.

How to read the FCA IV vs HV chart

The dual-line chart above tracks ATM implied volatility (forward-looking, what the chain is pricing) against 20-day realized historical volatility (backward-looking, what actually happened). ATM IV currently prints at 22.7%, 13.6% IV rank, against 29.8% realized over the trailing 20 trading days. Implied is currently below realized by 7.1 vol points, an inverted regime where premium buyers are underpaying for the move - rare and often a setup for IV expansion. Persistent IV-above-HV is the variance-risk-premium-positive state typical of equity markets; persistent IV-below-HV is rare and usually marks underpriced vol that often expands.

FCA IV/HV regimes and trade selection

FCA sits in the bottom quartile of its 1-year IV range. Low-IV-rank regimes favor premium-buying or long-vol structures - long calls/puts, debit spreads, calendar spreads, long straddles. The risk: low rank can persist for months while theta decay eats premium-buyers alive without a vol-expansion catalyst.

Using FCA vol history alongside the term structure

The IV/HV gap on this page captures the level of premium; the term-structure slope on the volatility page captures its shape across expirations. Backwardation (negative slope -0.043) indicates acute near-term event risk - near-dated tenors price disproportionate vol. Pair the rank read with the slope read with the event calendar to choose the right tenor for the structure.

FCA IV/HV signal in volatility-cycle context

Equity-vol cycles tend to compress and expand on multi-month timeframes: a typical sequence runs low-IV-rank consolidation (months of flat tape, decaying premium) into a vol-expansion catalyst (earnings miss, macro shock, regime change) into elevated-IV-rank stress (premiums fat, dispersion high) back to mean-reverting compression. FCA's current 13.6% IV rank places the ticker in the compression phase of that cycle. Compression phases are profitable for theta-harvesting structures but tend to end with abrupt vol-expansion regimes that hit short-vol books fast. The ratio of HV-20 (29.8%) to HV-60 (26.8%) gives a second cycle indicator: when 20-day exceeds 60-day, recent realization is running hotter than the trailing-quarter average - typically a sign that recent days have already started expanding vol regardless of where IV rank prints. Use the time series above to spot inflection points: meaningful IV/HV gap closures and openings tend to precede regime shifts by a few sessions.

Learn how implied vs realized volatility is reported and how to read the data →

Daily ATM implied volatility and 20-day realized (historical) volatility for FCA over the last ~40 trading days. The IV-HV gap measures the variance risk premium - when IV trades persistently above realized HV, premium-sellers earn the spread; when IV dips below HV, vol is structurally underpriced.

Daily values from end-of-day option_ticker_snapshots. Series sparse on illiquid tickers reflects gaps in the upstream end-of-day options data feed.

Most recent 15 trading days (descending). Older history appears in the chart above.

Date	ATM IV	HV 20d	HV 60d	IV Rank
Jun 29, 2026	22.7%	29.8%	26.8%	13.6%
Jun 26, 2026	21.3%	28.4%	26.1%	11.1%
Jun 25, 2026	16.8%	28.7%	25.9%	3.2%
Jun 24, 2026	18.5%	28.7%	25.9%	6.2%
Jun 23, 2026	20.6%	28.2%	25.6%	9.9%
Jun 22, 2026	17.7%	28.1%	25.5%	4.8%
Jun 18, 2026	17.4%	25.5%	24.8%	4.2%
Jun 17, 2026	15.9%	24.0%	24.2%	1.6%
Jun 16, 2026	18.3%	23.7%	24.0%	5.8%
Jun 15, 2026	15.3%	24.3%	24.2%	0.5%
Jun 12, 2026	15.0%	32.9%	24.3%	0.0%
Jun 11, 2026	16.0%	32.0%	23.8%	0.0%
Jun 10, 2026	16.7%	32.5%	23.9%	0.4%
Jun 9, 2026	42.1%	31.7%	23.6%	46.5%
Jun 8, 2026	63.9%	32.0%	23.3%	86.1%

Frequently asked FCA iv/hv history questions

Is FCA options pricing rich or cheap right now?: As of Jun 29, 2026, First Trust China AlphaDEX Fund (FCA) ATM IV is 22.7% against 20-day realized volatility of 29.8%. IV rank is 13.6%. Realized volatility currently exceeds implied: an inversion of the typical equity volatility risk premium that often precedes IV expansion.
What is the FCA variance risk premium?: The variance risk premium is the persistent gap between implied and subsequently realized volatility. In equity markets it averages positive because option sellers demand compensation for bearing variance shocks. FCA is currently pricing inverted to the historical pattern, which is one input to whether short-vol or long-vol structures carry their typical edge.
What does FCA IV rank mean for strategy selection?: IV rank normalizes the current ATM IV to its 1-year range: 0% is the low, 100% is the high. FCA's current rank of 13.6% signals where current pricing sits in its own 1-year history. High-rank regimes typically favor premium-selling structures (credit spreads, condors, covered calls); low-rank regimes typically favor premium-buying or long-volatility structures.