iShares Silver Trust (SLV) 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.
iShares Silver Trust (SLV) operates in the Financial Services sector, specifically the Asset Management industry, with a market capitalization near $42.42B, listed on AMEX, carrying a beta of 0.98 to the broader market. The iShares Silver Trust (the 'Trust') seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of silver. public since 2006-04-28.
Snapshot as of May 15, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $69.20
- ATM IV
- 55.1%
- IV Skew 25Δ
- -0.053
- IV Rank
- 37.5%
- IV Percentile
- 69.4%
- Term Structure Slope
- -0.002
As of May 15, 2026, iShares Silver Trust (SLV) at-the-money implied volatility is 55.1%. IV rank is 37.5% (where 0% is the 52-week low and 100% is the 52-week high). IV percentile is 69.4%. The 25-delta skew is -0.053: 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.
SLV Strategy Selection at Current Volatility Levels
For iShares Silver Trust options at 55.1% ATM IV, mid-range IV rank (37.5%) is the regime where directional conviction matters more than vol-regime positioning; strategy choice should follow the event calendar and the dealer-positioning view rather than IV rank alone. 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 →
SLV highest implied-volatility contracts
| Type | Strike | Expiration | Volume | OI | IV | Bid | Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PUT | $70.00 | May 22, 2026 | 60.6K | 4.4K | 56.8% | $2.55 | $2.61 |
| CALL | $70.00 | May 22, 2026 | 46.3K | 1.8K | 56.8% | $1.82 | $1.87 |
| CALL | $105.00 | May 22, 2026 | 5.8K | 192 | 103.9% | $0.01 | $0.03 |
| CALL | $70.00 | May 22, 2026 | 46.3K | 1.8K | 56.8% | $1.82 | $1.87 |
| PUT | $60.50 | Jul 17, 2026 | 4.2K | 196 | 53.0% | $2.23 | $2.28 |
| CALL | $100.00 | Jun 18, 2026 | 20.5K | 46.3K | 74.1% | $0.42 | $0.45 |
| PUT | $70.00 | May 22, 2026 | 60.6K | 4.4K | 56.8% | $2.55 | $2.61 |
Top 7 contracts from the ORATS-sourced nightly scan; ranked by iv within the broader S&P 500/400/600 + ETF universe.
Frequently asked SLV volatility skew questions
- What is the current SLV ATM implied volatility?
- As of May 15, 2026, iShares Silver Trust (SLV) at-the-money implied volatility is 55.1%. IV rank is 37.5% 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 SLV IV high or low historically?
- IV is near its 1-year median, a regime where strategy choice depends on directional conviction and event calendar rather than vol regime.
- What does SLV volatility skew tell options traders?
- Volatility skew is the pattern by which IV varies across strikes for a given expiration. iShares Silver Trust 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.