Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (CNK) 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.
Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (CNK) operates in the Communication Services sector, specifically the Entertainment industry, with a market capitalization near $3.07B, listed on NYSE, employing roughly 9,252 people, carrying a beta of 1.04 to the broader market. Cinemark Holdings, Inc. Led by Sean Gamble, public since 2007-04-24.
Snapshot as of May 15, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $25.91
- ATM IV
- 35.4%
- IV Skew 25Δ
- 0.013
- IV Rank
- 25.2%
- IV Percentile
- 26.6%
- Term Structure Slope
- 0.003
As of May 15, 2026, Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (CNK) at-the-money implied volatility is 35.4%. IV rank is 25.2% (where 0% is the 52-week low and 100% is the 52-week high). IV percentile is 26.6%. The 25-delta skew is +0.013: skew is roughly flat across the 25-delta wings. High IV rank typically favors premium-selling strategies; low IV rank favors premium-buying.
CNK Strategy Selection at Current Volatility Levels
For Cinemark Holdings, Inc. options at 35.4% ATM IV, low IV rank (25.2%) 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. 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 →
CNK highest implied-volatility contracts
| Type | Strike | Expiration | Volume | OI | IV | Bid | Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CALL | $25.00 | Jun 18, 2026 | 10 | 9.9K | 37.1% | $1.55 | $1.80 |
| CALL | $28.00 | Jun 18, 2026 | 4 | 6.0K | 36.7% | $0.35 | $0.55 |
| CALL | $30.00 | Jun 18, 2026 | 101 | 9.8K | 40.2% | $0.10 | $0.25 |
Top 3 contracts from the ORATS-sourced nightly scan; ranked by iv within the broader S&P 500/400/600 + ETF universe.
Frequently asked CNK volatility skew questions
- What is the current CNK ATM implied volatility?
- As of May 15, 2026, Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (CNK) at-the-money implied volatility is 35.4%. IV rank is 25.2% 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 CNK 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 CNK volatility skew tell options traders?
- Volatility skew is the pattern by which IV varies across strikes for a given expiration. Cinemark Holdings, Inc. 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.