Pure Cycle Corporation (PCYO) IV/HV History
Comparing implied volatility to historical (realized) volatility reveals whether options are priced rich or cheap relative to actual price movement. Persistent gaps can signal trading opportunities.
Pure Cycle Corporation (PCYO) operates in the Utilities sector, specifically the Regulated Water industry, with a market capitalization near $244.2M, listed on NASDAQ, employing roughly 39 people, carrying a beta of 1.29 to the broader market. Pure Cycle Corporation designs, constructs, operates, and maintains water and wastewater systems in the Denver metropolitan area and Colorado Front Range in the United States. Led by Mark W. Harding, public since 1994-04-13.
Snapshot as of May 29, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $10.41
- ATM IV
- 45.5%
- HV 20-Day
- 30.2%
- HV 60-Day
- 44.1%
- IV Rank
- 4.1%
- IV Percentile
- 3.2%
As of May 29, 2026, Pure Cycle Corporation (PCYO) ATM implied volatility is 45.5%. 20-day realized volatility is 30.2%, producing an IV-HV spread of +15.3 vol points. Options are pricing in more volatility than the stock has recently delivered, the volatility risk premium. IV rank is 4.1%.
How PCYO iv/hv history Data Feeds Strategy Selection
Strategy selection on Pure Cycle Corporation options does not derive from any single metric in isolation. The iv/hv history view above sits inside a broader read: ATM IV currently sits at 45.5% and dealer gamma exposure is positive, so dealer hedging is mechanically mean-reverting. Combine the iv/hv history data here with the volatility-skew surface, dealer-gamma exposure, max-pain level, and upcoming-events calendar to build a positioning thesis. Risk-defined structures (credit spreads, debit spreads, iron condors) are usually safer than naked positions while the regime is uncertain; the data on this page anchors the inputs but does not by itself constitute a trade thesis.
How to read the PCYO IV vs HV chart
The dual-line chart above tracks ATM implied volatility (forward-looking, what the chain is pricing) against 20-day realized historical volatility (backward-looking, what actually happened). ATM IV currently prints at 45.5%, 4.1% IV rank, against 30.2% realized over the trailing 20 trading days. Implied is pricing above realized by 15.3 vol points, the typical variance-risk-premium positive state in which premium sellers earn the gap. Persistent IV-above-HV is the variance-risk-premium-positive state typical of equity markets; persistent IV-below-HV is rare and usually marks underpriced vol that often expands.
PCYO IV/HV regimes and trade selection
PCYO sits in the bottom quartile of its 1-year IV range. Low-IV-rank regimes favor premium-buying or long-vol structures - long calls/puts, debit spreads, calendar spreads, long straddles. The risk: low rank can persist for months while theta decay eats premium-buyers alive without a vol-expansion catalyst.
Using PCYO vol history alongside the term structure
The IV/HV gap on this page captures the level of premium; the term-structure slope on the volatility page captures its shape across expirations. Contango (positive slope 0.480) is the resting state - longer-dated IV trades above near-dated IV because long-dated cycles include uncertain macro states. Pair the rank read with the slope read with the event calendar to choose the right tenor for the structure.
PCYO IV/HV signal in volatility-cycle context
Equity-vol cycles tend to compress and expand on multi-month timeframes: a typical sequence runs low-IV-rank consolidation (months of flat tape, decaying premium) into a vol-expansion catalyst (earnings miss, macro shock, regime change) into elevated-IV-rank stress (premiums fat, dispersion high) back to mean-reverting compression. PCYO's current 4.1% IV rank places the ticker in the compression phase of that cycle. Compression phases are profitable for theta-harvesting structures but tend to end with abrupt vol-expansion regimes that hit short-vol books fast. The ratio of HV-20 (30.2%) to HV-60 (44.1%) gives a second cycle indicator: when 20-day exceeds 60-day, recent realization is running hotter than the trailing-quarter average - typically a sign that recent days have already started expanding vol regardless of where IV rank prints. Use the time series above to spot inflection points: meaningful IV/HV gap closures and openings tend to precede regime shifts by a few sessions.
Learn how implied vs realized volatility is reported and how to read the data →
Daily ATM implied volatility and 20-day realized (historical) volatility for PCYO over the last ~36 trading days. The IV-HV gap measures the variance risk premium - when IV trades persistently above realized HV, premium-sellers earn the spread; when IV dips below HV, vol is structurally underpriced.
Most recent 15 trading days (descending). Older history appears in the chart above.
| Date | ATM IV | HV 20d | HV 60d | IV Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 29, 2026 | 45.5% | 30.2% | 44.1% | 4.1% |
| May 28, 2026 | 33.7% | 32.1% | 45.1% | 1.4% |
| May 27, 2026 | 461.0% | 29.2% | 44.3% | 100.0% |
| May 26, 2026 | 105.0% | 28.1% | 46.1% | 19.1% |
| May 22, 2026 | 88.1% | 30.4% | 46.2% | 15.1% |
| May 21, 2026 | 433.3% | 30.7% | 46.4% | 100.0% |
| May 20, 2026 | 105.1% | 30.7% | 46.4% | 22.4% |
| May 19, 2026 | 98.3% | 29.9% | 46.6% | 20.4% |
| May 18, 2026 | 106.0% | 31.5% | 46.2% | 23.1% |
| May 15, 2026 | 346.8% | 32.6% | 46.6% | 91.7% |
| May 14, 2026 | 88.4% | 31.4% | 46.1% | 18.7% |
| May 13, 2026 | 86.0% | 30.0% | 46.1% | 18.0% |
| May 12, 2026 | 82.9% | 38.0% | 46.1% | 17.2% |
| May 11, 2026 | 252.1% | 58.7% | 45.7% | 65.0% |
| May 8, 2026 | 188.7% | 58.3% | 45.6% | 47.1% |
Frequently asked PCYO iv/hv history questions
- Is PCYO options pricing rich or cheap right now?
- As of May 29, 2026, Pure Cycle Corporation (PCYO) ATM IV is 45.5% against 20-day realized volatility of 30.2%. IV rank is 4.1%. PCYO options are pricing in more volatility than the stock has recently realized: a positive variance risk premium worth 15.3 vol points.
- What is the PCYO variance risk premium?
- The variance risk premium is the persistent gap between implied and subsequently realized volatility. In equity markets it averages positive because option sellers demand compensation for bearing variance shocks. PCYO is currently priced consistently with this premium, which is one input to whether short-vol or long-vol structures carry their typical edge.
- What does PCYO IV rank mean for strategy selection?
- IV rank normalizes the current ATM IV to its 1-year range: 0% is the low, 100% is the high. PCYO's current rank of 4.1% signals where current pricing sits in its own 1-year history. High-rank regimes typically favor premium-selling structures (credit spreads, condors, covered calls); low-rank regimes typically favor premium-buying or long-volatility structures.