Magnolia Oil & Gas Corporation (MGY) 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.
Magnolia Oil & Gas Corporation (MGY) operates in the Energy sector, specifically the Oil & Gas Exploration & Production industry, with a market capitalization near $5.95B, listed on NYSE, employing roughly 262 people, carrying a beta of 0.70 to the broader market. Magnolia Oil & Gas Corporation is an energy company engaged in the full lifecycle of hydrocarbon resource management: acquisition, development, exploration, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs) within the United States. Led by Christopher G. Stavros, public since 2017-06-29.
Snapshot as of Oct 14, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $24.84
- Expected Move
- 11.3%
- Implied High
- $27.65
- Implied Low
- $22.03
- Front DTE
- 37 days
As of Oct 14, 2026, Magnolia Oil & Gas Corporation (MGY) has an expected move of 11.32%, a one-standard-deviation implied price range of roughly $22.03 to $27.65 from the current $24.84. 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.
MGY Strategy Sizing to the Expected Move
With Magnolia Oil & Gas Corporation pricing an expected move of 11.32% from $24.84, 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 MGY implied-range chart
The shaded range below 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 11.32%, anchoring an implied range of approximately $22.03 to $27.65. 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.
MGY 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. MGY term-structure is in backwardation (slope -0.019), so near-dated tenors price in disproportionate vol - usually because of a known event in the front-month window. With IV rank at 6.7%, the implied move is at the low end of the typical MGY range - cheap optionality for buyers, thin premium for sellers.
Sizing MGY 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. MGY put/call volume ratio currently at 0.55 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 MGY derived from ATM implied volatility at each listed expiration. Implied high/low bounds are computed as $24.84 × (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 16, 2026 | 2 | 23.6% | 1.7% | $25.27 | $24.41 |
| Nov 20, 2026 | 37 | 39.5% | 12.6% | $27.96 | $21.72 |
| Dec 18, 2026 | 65 | 37.6% | 15.9% | $28.78 | $20.90 |
| Mar 19, 2027 | 156 | 37.7% | 24.6% | $30.96 | $18.72 |
| Dec 17, 2027 | 429 | 34.2% | 37.1% | $34.05 | $15.63 |
MGY highest implied-volatility contracts
| Type | Strike | Expiration | Volume | OI | IV | Bid | Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PUT | $25.00 | Oct 16, 2026 | 0 | 3.6K | 23.6% | $0.15 | $0.75 |
Top 1 contracts from the institutional-grade nightly options scan; ranked by iv within the broader S&P 500/400/600 + ETF universe.
Frequently asked MGY expected move questions
- What is the current MGY expected move?
- As of Oct 14, 2026, Magnolia Oil & Gas Corporation (MGY) has an expected move of 11.32% over the next 37 days, implying a one-standard-deviation price range of $22.03 to $27.65 from the current $24.84. The expected move is derived from at-the-money straddle pricing and represents the market consensus for a ±1σ price move.
- What does the MGY 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 MGY 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.