The Coca-Cola Company (KO) 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.
The Coca-Cola Company (KO) operates in the Consumer Defensive sector, specifically the Beverages - Non-Alcoholic industry, with a market capitalization near $370.36B, listed on NYSE, employing roughly 65,900 people, carrying a beta of 0.34 to the broader market. The Coca-Cola Company, a beverage company, manufactures and sells various nonalcoholic beverages in the United States and internationally. Led by Henrique Gnani Braun, public since 1962-01-02.
Snapshot as of Sep 30, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $86.19
- Expected Move
- 6.1%
- Implied High
- $91.48
- Implied Low
- $80.90
- Front DTE
- 30 days
As of Sep 30, 2026, The Coca-Cola Company (KO) has an expected move of 6.14%, a one-standard-deviation implied price range of roughly $80.90 to $91.48 from the current $86.19. 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.
KO Strategy Sizing to the Expected Move
With The Coca-Cola Company pricing an expected move of 6.14% from $86.19, 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 KO 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 6.14%, anchoring an implied range of approximately $80.90 to $91.48. 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.
KO 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. KO term-structure is in contango (slope 0.002), so longer-dated tenors price in proportionally more vol than √time scaling alone would suggest - typically because long-dated cycles include uncertain macro states. Combined with the 74.3% IV rank, the implied move is meaningfully wider than the typical KO trailing range, so even premium-selling structures need wide wings to absorb the elevated regime.
Sizing KO 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. KO put/call volume ratio currently at 0.22 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 →
Per-expiration expected move for KO derived from ATM implied volatility at each listed expiration. Implied high/low bounds are computed as $86.19 × (1 ± expected move %). One standard-deviation range under lognormal assumptions, roughly 68% of outcomes fall inside.
| Expiration | DTE | ATM IV | Expected Move | Implied High | Implied Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2, 2026 | 2 | 20.5% | 1.5% | $87.50 | $84.88 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 9 | 19.1% | 3.0% | $88.78 | $83.60 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 16 | 18.7% | 3.9% | $89.56 | $82.82 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 23 | 18.8% | 4.7% | $90.26 | $82.12 |
| Oct 30, 2026 | 30 | 21.4% | 6.1% | $91.48 | $80.90 |
| Nov 6, 2026 | 37 | 21.6% | 6.9% | $92.12 | $80.26 |
| Nov 20, 2026 | 51 | 21.1% | 7.9% | $92.99 | $79.39 |
| Dec 18, 2026 | 79 | 21.0% | 9.8% | $94.61 | $77.77 |
| Jan 15, 2027 | 107 | 20.4% | 11.0% | $95.71 | $76.67 |
| Feb 19, 2027 | 142 | 21.1% | 13.2% | $97.53 | $74.85 |
| Mar 19, 2027 | 170 | 21.6% | 14.7% | $98.90 | $73.48 |
| May 21, 2027 | 233 | 20.9% | 16.7% | $100.58 | $71.80 |
| Jun 17, 2027 | 260 | 21.0% | 17.7% | $101.47 | $70.91 |
| Sep 17, 2027 | 352 | 21.8% | 21.4% | $104.64 | $67.74 |
| Jan 21, 2028 | 478 | 21.5% | 24.6% | $107.40 | $64.98 |
| Jun 16, 2028 | 625 | 22.0% | 28.8% | $111.00 | $61.38 |
| Dec 15, 2028 | 807 | 22.0% | 32.7% | $114.38 | $58.00 |
| Jan 19, 2029 | 842 | 21.8% | 33.1% | $114.73 | $57.65 |
KO highest implied-volatility contracts
| Type | Strike | Expiration | Volume | OI | IV | Bid | Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CALL | $87.00 | Oct 9, 2026 | 6.8K | 194 | 18.3% | $0.67 | $0.72 |
| CALL | $88.00 | Oct 9, 2026 | 6.6K | 812 | 18.0% | $0.35 | $0.39 |
Top 2 contracts from the institutional-grade nightly options scan; ranked by iv within the broader S&P 500/400/600 + ETF universe.
Frequently asked KO expected move questions
- What is the current KO expected move?
- As of Sep 30, 2026, The Coca-Cola Company (KO) has an expected move of 6.14% over the next 30 days, implying a one-standard-deviation price range of $80.90 to $91.48 from the current $86.19. The expected move is derived from at-the-money straddle pricing and represents the market consensus for a ±1σ price move.
- What does the KO 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 KO 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.