WTI Crude Oil Futures (CL) 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.
WTI Crude Oil Futures (CL) operates in the Energy Futures sector, specifically the Energy Futures industry, listed on NYMEX. NYMEX WTI Crude Oil futures (CL): the global benchmark for North American crude oil pricing, settling against physically deliverable barrels at Cushing, OK.
Snapshot as of May 14, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $88.75
- ATM IV
- 23.1%
- IV Skew 25Δ
- 0.017
- IV Rank
- 39.9%
- IV Percentile
- 66.3%
- Term Structure Slope
- 0.002
As of May 14, 2026, WTI Crude Oil Futures (CL) at-the-money implied volatility is 23.1%. IV rank is 39.9% (where 0% is the 52-week low and 100% is the 52-week high). IV percentile is 66.3%. The 25-delta skew is +0.017: skew is roughly flat across the 25-delta wings. High IV rank typically favors premium-selling strategies; low IV rank favors premium-buying.
CL Strategy Selection at Current Volatility Levels
For WTI Crude Oil Futures options at 23.1% ATM IV, mid-range IV rank (39.9%) 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. 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 →
CL highest implied-volatility contracts
| Type | Strike | Expiration | Volume | OI | IV | Bid | Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PUT | $95.00 | May 15, 2026 | 0 | 121 | 955.9% | $5.40 | $6.90 |
| PUT | $90.00 | May 15, 2026 | 20 | 404 | 716.6% | $0.35 | $1.65 |
Top 2 contracts from the ORATS-sourced nightly scan; ranked by iv within the broader S&P 500/400/600 + ETF universe.
Frequently asked CL volatility skew questions
- What is the current CL ATM implied volatility?
- As of May 14, 2026, WTI Crude Oil Futures (CL) at-the-money implied volatility is 23.1%. IV rank is 39.9% 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 CL 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 CL volatility skew tell options traders?
- Volatility skew is the pattern by which IV varies across strikes for a given expiration. WTI Crude Oil Futures skew is roughly flat across the 25-delta wings. 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.