Roundhill Investments - Bitcoin Covered Call Strategy ETF (YBTC) 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.

Roundhill Investments - Bitcoin Covered Call Strategy ETF (YBTC) operates in the Financial Services sector, specifically the Asset Management - Cryptocurrency industry, with a market capitalization near $153.9M, listed on CBOE, carrying a beta of 1.04 to the broader market. The Roundhill Bitcoin Covered Call Strategy ETF (YBTC) is notable as the pioneering U. public since 2024-01-18.

Snapshot as of Aug 14, 2026.

Spot Price
$17.27
Expected Move
141.5%
Implied High
$41.70
Implied Low
$-7.16
Front DTE
35 days

As of Aug 14, 2026, Roundhill Investments - Bitcoin Covered Call Strategy ETF (YBTC) has an expected move of 141.45%, a one-standard-deviation implied price range of roughly $-7.16 to $41.70 from the current $17.27. 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.

YBTC Strategy Sizing to the Expected Move

With Roundhill Investments - Bitcoin Covered Call Strategy ETF pricing an expected move of 141.45% from $17.27, 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 YBTC 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 141.45%, anchoring an implied range of approximately $-7.16 to $41.70. 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.

YBTC 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. YBTC term-structure is in backwardation (slope -4.627), so near-dated tenors price in disproportionate vol - usually because of a known event in the front-month window. Combined with the 99.9% IV rank, the implied move is meaningfully wider than the typical YBTC trailing range, so even premium-selling structures need wide wings to absorb the elevated regime.

Sizing YBTC 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. YBTC put/call volume ratio currently at 0.38 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 →

YBTC one-standard-deviation implied price range by days-to-expiration, with current spot marked as the midpointYBTC Implied Price Range by Expiration$0$10$20$30$4050d100d150d200dDays to ExpirationImplied Price Range ($)
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 YBTC derived from ATM implied volatility at each listed expiration. Implied high/low bounds are computed as $17.27 × (1 ± expected move %). One standard-deviation range under lognormal assumptions, roughly 68% of outcomes fall inside.

ExpirationDTEATM IVExpected MoveImplied HighImplied Low
Aug 21, 2026734.0%4.7%$18.08$16.46
Sep 18, 202635493.4%152.8%$43.66$-9.12
Dec 18, 202612630.7%18.0%$20.39$14.15
Mar 19, 202721762.6%48.3%$25.61$8.93

Frequently asked YBTC expected move questions

What is the current YBTC expected move?
As of Aug 14, 2026, Roundhill Investments - Bitcoin Covered Call Strategy ETF (YBTC) has an expected move of 141.45% over the next 35 days, implying a one-standard-deviation price range of $-7.16 to $41.70 from the current $17.27. The expected move is derived from at-the-money straddle pricing and represents the market consensus for a ±1σ price move.
What does the YBTC 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 YBTC 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.