What is the current IEF expected move?

As of Aug 14, 2026, iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) has an expected move of 1.57% over the next 28 days, implying a one-standard-deviation price range of $91.57 to $94.49 from the current $93.03. The expected move is derived from at-the-money straddle pricing and represents the market consensus for a ±1σ price move.

What does the IEF expected move mean for traders?

Roughly 68% of outcomes should fall within ±1 expected move and 95% within ±2 under lognormal assumptions, though equity returns have empirically fatter tails than log-normal predicts. Strategies sized to the expected move (iron condors at ±1σ, strangles at ±1.5σ) target the typical outcome distribution; strategies that profit from tail moves (long-vol structures, ratio backspreads) target the tails the lognormal model under-prices.

How is IEF expected move calculated?

The expected move displayed here is derived from at-the-money implied volatility scaled to the chosen tenor: expected move % is approximately ATM IV times sqrt(T / 365), where T is days to expiration. An equivalent straddle-based form: the ATM straddle (call + put at the same strike) is roughly sqrt(2/pi) times spot times IV times sqrt(T/365), so the implied one-standard-deviation move is approximately 1.25 times ATM straddle divided by spot. The two formulations agree once the sqrt(2/pi) constant is reconciled.

iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) Expected Move

Expected move estimates the probable price range for a given period based on at-the-money options pricing. It reflects the market consensus for volatility over the selected timeframe.

iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) operates in the Financial Services sector, specifically the Asset Management - Bonds industry, with a market capitalization near $47.21B, listed on NASDAQ, carrying a beta of 1.16 to the broader market. The iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF, known by its ticker IEF, is designed to mirror the investment performance of an underlying index. public since 2002-07-30.

Snapshot as of Aug 14, 2026.

Spot Price: $93.03
Expected Move: 1.6%
Implied High: $94.49
Implied Low: $91.57
Front DTE: 28 days

As of Aug 14, 2026, iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) has an expected move of 1.57%, a one-standard-deviation implied price range of roughly $91.57 to $94.49 from the current $93.03. Expected move is derived from at-the-money straddle pricing and represents the market's pricing of a ±1σ move. Roughly 68% of outcomes should fall within this range under lognormal assumptions, though empirical markets have fatter tails.

IEF Strategy Sizing to the Expected Move

With iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF pricing an expected move of 1.57% from $93.03, risk-defined strategies sized to the implied range structurally target the modal outcome distribution. Iron condors with wings at the ±1σ expected move boundaries collect premium against the ~68% probability that spot stays inside the range under lognormal assumptions; strangles set wider at ±1.5σ or ±2σ target the tails but pay smaller per-trade premium. Long-vol structures (long straddles, ratio backspreads) profit when realized move exceeds the implied move, the inverse trade: they bet against the lognormal assumption itself, capitalizing on the empirically fatter equity-return tails.

How to read the IEF implied-range chart

The shaded range above shows the one-standard-deviation implied price band at each listed expiration, derived from ATM implied volatility scaled to days-to-expiration. The front-tenor expected move is 1.57%, anchoring an implied range of approximately $91.57 to $94.49. Under lognormal assumptions, roughly 68% of outcomes fall inside that band; 95% fall inside ±2σ; 99.7% inside ±3σ. The empirical equity-return distribution has fatter tails than lognormal, so true tail-outcome frequency is moderately higher than these closed-form numbers suggest.

IEF expected move and event pricing

Expected move widens with √time: a 5% 30-day move corresponds to roughly a 2.5% 7.5-day move and a 10% 120-day move. IEF term-structure is in contango (slope 0.002), so longer-dated tenors price in proportionally more vol than √time scaling alone would suggest - typically because long-dated cycles include uncertain macro states. With IV rank at 22.0%, the implied move is at the low end of the typical IEF range - cheap optionality for buyers, thin premium for sellers.

Sizing IEF structures to the expected move

Iron condors with wings at ±1σ collect the modal-outcome premium; ±1.5σ widens probability of inside-range to ~87% but cuts collected premium roughly in half. Strangles do the inverse trade - they pay against the same lognormal distribution, profiting when realized exceeds implied. Calendar spreads bet on the slope of the term structure rather than the level. IEF put/call volume ratio currently at 0.31 indicates speculative call flow dominates - look for upside-skewed sentiment. The expected move is the inputs the chain is pricing, not a forecast - realized moves above or below are normal under any distribution.

Learn how expected move is reported and how to read the data →

Shaded band shows the ±1σ implied price range (~68% probability under lognormal assumptions) at each expiration; the center line marks current spot. Bands widen with longer DTE since volatility scales with √time.

Per-expiration expected move for IEF derived from ATM implied volatility at each listed expiration. Implied high/low bounds are computed as $93.03 × (1 ± expected move %). One standard-deviation range under lognormal assumptions, roughly 68% of outcomes fall inside.

Expiration	DTE	ATM IV	Expected Move	Implied High	Implied Low
Aug 21, 2026	7	4.3%	0.6%	$93.58	$92.48
Aug 28, 2026	14	4.7%	0.9%	$93.89	$92.17
Sep 4, 2026	21	5.6%	1.3%	$94.28	$91.78
Sep 11, 2026	28	5.4%	1.5%	$94.42	$91.64
Sep 18, 2026	35	5.6%	1.7%	$94.64	$91.42
Sep 25, 2026	42	5.6%	1.9%	$94.80	$91.26
Oct 2, 2026	49	5.7%	2.1%	$94.97	$91.09
Oct 16, 2026	63	5.6%	2.3%	$95.19	$90.87
Dec 18, 2026	126	6.1%	3.6%	$96.36	$89.70
Jan 15, 2027	154	6.0%	3.9%	$96.66	$89.40
Mar 19, 2027	217	6.1%	4.7%	$97.41	$88.65
Apr 16, 2027	245	6.2%	5.1%	$97.76	$88.30
Jan 21, 2028	525	6.6%	7.9%	$100.39	$85.67

IEF highest implied-volatility contracts

Type	Strike	Expiration	Volume	OI	IV	Bid	Ask
PUT	$93.00	Aug 21, 2026	39	20.8K	4.3%	$0.17	$0.19

Top 1 contracts from the institutional-grade nightly options scan; ranked by iv within the broader S&P 500/400/600 + ETF universe.

Frequently asked IEF expected move questions

What is the current IEF expected move?: As of Aug 14, 2026, iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) has an expected move of 1.57% over the next 28 days, implying a one-standard-deviation price range of $91.57 to $94.49 from the current $93.03. The expected move is derived from at-the-money straddle pricing and represents the market consensus for a ±1σ price move.
What does the IEF expected move mean for traders?: Roughly 68% of outcomes should fall within ±1 expected move and 95% within ±2 under lognormal assumptions, though equity returns have empirically fatter tails than log-normal predicts. Strategies sized to the expected move (iron condors at ±1σ, strangles at ±1.5σ) target the typical outcome distribution; strategies that profit from tail moves (long-vol structures, ratio backspreads) target the tails the lognormal model under-prices.
How is IEF expected move calculated?: The expected move displayed here is derived from at-the-money implied volatility scaled to the chosen tenor: expected move % is approximately ATM IV times sqrt(T / 365), where T is days to expiration. An equivalent straddle-based form: the ATM straddle (call + put at the same strike) is roughly sqrt(2/pi) times spot times IV times sqrt(T/365), so the implied one-standard-deviation move is approximately 1.25 times ATM straddle divided by spot. The two formulations agree once the sqrt(2/pi) constant is reconciled.