iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) 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.
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 $45.36B, 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 Sep 30, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $89.22
- ATM IV
- 8.2%
- HV 20-Day
- 6.2%
- HV 60-Day
- 5.2%
- IV Rank
- 71.9%
- IV Percentile
- 98.0%
As of Sep 30, 2026, iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) ATM implied volatility is 8.2%. 20-day realized volatility is 6.2%, producing an IV-HV spread of +2.0 vol points. Options are pricing in more volatility than the stock has recently delivered, the volatility risk premium. IV rank is 71.9%.
How IEF iv/hv history Data Feeds Strategy Selection
Strategy selection on iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF 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 8.2% and dealer gamma exposure is negative, so dealer hedging amplifies directional moves. 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 IEF 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 8.2%, 71.9% IV rank, against 6.2% realized over the trailing 20 trading days. Implied is pricing above realized by 2.0 vol points, the typical variance-risk-premium positive state in which premium sellers earn the gap. 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.
IEF IV/HV regimes and trade selection
IEF sits in the top quartile of its 1-year IV range. High-IV-rank regimes statistically favor premium-selling - the elevated implied is more likely to mean-revert than to expand further. Iron condors, covered calls, and cash-secured puts collect more premium per unit of notional risk; size wings to the implied move and exit on first sign of HV catching up.
Using IEF 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. Term structure is roughly flat at 0.003, no strong near vs far premium being priced. Pair the rank read with the slope read with the event calendar to choose the right tenor for the structure.
IEF 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. IEF's current 71.9% IV rank places the ticker in the expansion or stress phase of that cycle. Premium-selling carries the typical structural tailwind here, but the mean-reverting compression that completes the cycle has historically arrived sharply rather than gradually. The ratio of HV-20 (6.2%) to HV-60 (5.2%) 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 IEF over the last ~42 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.
Most recent 15 trading days (descending). Older history appears in the chart above.
| Date | ATM IV | HV 20d | HV 60d | IV Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 30, 2026 | 8.2% | 6.2% | 5.2% | 71.9% |
| Sep 29, 2026 | 8.1% | 6.5% | 5.3% | 69.7% |
| Sep 28, 2026 | 8.1% | 6.5% | 5.3% | 69.7% |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 7.6% | 6.4% | 5.2% | 60.9% |
| Sep 24, 2026 | 8.3% | 6.1% | 5.3% | 73.4% |
| Sep 23, 2026 | 7.3% | 6.0% | 5.2% | 55.4% |
| Sep 22, 2026 | 6.1% | 5.4% | 4.8% | 33.5% |
| Sep 21, 2026 | 6.1% | 5.5% | 4.8% | 33.9% |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 6.3% | 5.3% | 4.8% | 36.6% |
| Sep 17, 2026 | 6.3% | 5.2% | 4.9% | 36.6% |
| Sep 16, 2026 | 6.8% | 5.0% | 4.8% | 46.3% |
| Sep 15, 2026 | 6.8% | 5.0% | 4.8% | 46.1% |
| Sep 14, 2026 | 6.6% | 5.0% | 4.9% | 42.6% |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 6.5% | 5.1% | 5.0% | 41.4% |
| Sep 10, 2026 | 7.0% | 5.4% | 5.0% | 49.6% |
IEF highest implied-volatility contracts
| Type | Strike | Expiration | Volume | OI | IV | Bid | Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CALL | $91.00 | Oct 30, 2026 | 30.1K | 30.5K | 8.5% | $0.22 | $0.25 |
| PUT | $86.00 | Jan 21, 2028 | 30.0K | 6.8K | 8.1% | $1.40 | $1.53 |
| PUT | $89.00 | Nov 20, 2026 | 25.0K | 34.8K | 8.3% | $1.00 | $1.05 |
Top 3 contracts from the institutional-grade nightly options scan; ranked by iv within the broader S&P 500/400/600 + ETF universe.
Frequently asked IEF iv/hv history questions
- Is IEF options pricing rich or cheap right now?
- As of Sep 30, 2026, iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) ATM IV is 8.2% against 20-day realized volatility of 6.2%. IV rank is 71.9%. IEF options are pricing in more volatility than the stock has recently realized: a positive variance risk premium worth 2.0 vol points.
- What is the IEF 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. IEF is currently priced consistently with this premium, which is one input to whether short-vol or long-vol structures carry their typical edge.
- What does IEF 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. IEF's current rank of 71.9% 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.