MP Materials Corp. (MP) 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.
MP Materials Corp. (MP) operates in the Basic Materials sector, specifically the Industrial Materials industry, with a market capitalization near $11.35B, listed on NYSE, employing roughly 804 people, carrying a beta of 1.91 to the broader market. MP Materials Corp. Led by James Henry Litinsky, public since 2020-06-22.
Snapshot as of May 15, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $61.25
- ATM IV
- 69.9%
- IV Skew 25Δ
- -0.024
- IV Rank
- 20.9%
- IV Percentile
- 25.0%
- Term Structure Slope
- -0.021
As of May 15, 2026, MP Materials Corp. (MP) at-the-money implied volatility is 69.9%. IV rank is 20.9% (where 0% is the 52-week low and 100% is the 52-week high). IV percentile is 25.0%. The 25-delta skew is -0.024: puts carry meaningful premium over calls, a classic equity downside-protection skew. High IV rank typically favors premium-selling strategies; low IV rank favors premium-buying.
MP Strategy Selection at Current Volatility Levels
For MP Materials Corp. options at 69.9% ATM IV, low IV rank (20.9%) 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 is meaningfully put-skewed, so put-credit spreads capture more premium for the same width than call-credit spreads. 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 →
MP highest implied-volatility contracts
| Type | Strike | Expiration | Volume | OI | IV | Bid | Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CALL | $55.00 | May 22, 2026 | 674 | 124 | 71.6% | $6.25 | $7.20 |
| PUT | $60.00 | Dec 18, 2026 | 1.6K | 431 | 69.0% | $11.10 | $11.60 |
| PUT | $50.00 | Jun 18, 2026 | 2.6K | 6.9K | 68.7% | $0.96 | $1.02 |
| CALL | $63.00 | May 22, 2026 | 363 | 128 | 71.4% | $1.63 | $1.73 |
| PUT | $60.00 | Dec 18, 2026 | 1.6K | 431 | 69.0% | $11.10 | $11.60 |
Top 5 contracts from the ORATS-sourced nightly scan; ranked by iv within the broader S&P 500/400/600 + ETF universe.
Frequently asked MP volatility skew questions
- What is the current MP ATM implied volatility?
- As of May 15, 2026, MP Materials Corp. (MP) at-the-money implied volatility is 69.9%. IV rank is 20.9% 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 MP 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 MP volatility skew tell options traders?
- Volatility skew is the pattern by which IV varies across strikes for a given expiration. MP Materials Corp. carries the typical equity downside-protection skew: 25-delta puts price meaningfully richer than 25-delta calls. 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.