BankUnited, Inc. (BKU) 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.

BankUnited, Inc. (BKU) operates in the Financial Services sector, specifically the Banks - Regional industry, with a market capitalization near $3.33B, listed on NYSE, employing roughly 1,662 people, carrying a beta of 1.18 to the broader market. BankUnited, Inc. Led by Rajinder Singh, public since 2011-01-28.

Snapshot as of May 15, 2026.

Spot Price

$45.31

ATM IV

33.7%

IV Skew 25Δ

0.042

IV Rank

3.5%

IV Percentile

15.5%

Term Structure Slope

0.012

As of May 15, 2026, BankUnited, Inc. (BKU) at-the-money implied volatility is 33.7%. IV rank is 3.5% (where 0% is the 52-week low and 100% is the 52-week high). IV percentile is 15.5%. The 25-delta skew is +0.042: calls carry premium over puts, indicating upside speculation or squeeze risk. High IV rank typically favors premium-selling strategies; low IV rank favors premium-buying.

BKU Strategy Selection at Current Volatility Levels

For BankUnited, Inc. options at 33.7% ATM IV, low IV rank (3.5%) favors premium-buying or long-vol structures: long calls or puts, debit spreads, calendar spreads, long straddles. The risk: low-rank regimes can persist for months while time decay eats premium-buyers alive. The 25-delta skew tilts to calls, so call-credit spreads or covered-call writes harvest more premium than put-credit spreads of the same width. 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 →

BKU highest implied-volatility contracts

Top 2 contracts from the ORATS-sourced nightly scan; ranked by iv within the broader S&P 500/400/600 + ETF universe.

Frequently asked BKU volatility skew questions

What is the current BKU ATM implied volatility?

As of May 15, 2026, BankUnited, Inc. (BKU) at-the-money implied volatility is 33.7%. IV rank is 3.5% 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 BKU IV high or low historically?

IV is subdued relative to its 1-year history, conditions that typically favor premium-buying strategies (long calls, long puts, debit spreads, calendar spreads).

What does BKU volatility skew tell options traders?

Volatility skew is the pattern by which IV varies across strikes for a given expiration. BankUnited, Inc. shows upside-skewed pricing: 25-delta calls trade richer than 25-delta puts, often reflecting upside speculation or squeeze risk. 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.