AT&T Inc. (T) 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.
AT&T Inc. (T) operates in the Communication Services sector, specifically the Telecommunications Services industry, with a market capitalization near $166.31B, listed on NYSE, employing roughly 133,030 people, carrying a beta of 0.42 to the broader market. Globally, AT&T Inc. Led by John T. Stankey, public since 1983-11-21.
Snapshot as of Aug 14, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $24.88
- Expected Move
- 6.3%
- Implied High
- $26.45
- Implied Low
- $23.31
- Front DTE
- 28 days
As of Aug 14, 2026, AT&T Inc. (T) has an expected move of 6.32%, a one-standard-deviation implied price range of roughly $23.31 to $26.45 from the current $24.88. 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.
T Strategy Sizing to the Expected Move
With AT&T Inc. pricing an expected move of 6.32% from $24.88, 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 T 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 6.32%, anchoring an implied range of approximately $23.31 to $26.45. 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.
T 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. T term-structure is in contango (slope 0.010), so longer-dated tenors price in proportionally more vol than √time scaling alone would suggest - typically because long-dated cycles include uncertain macro states. With IV rank at 20.1%, the implied move is at the low end of the typical T range - cheap optionality for buyers, thin premium for sellers.
Sizing T 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. T put/call volume ratio currently at 0.75 indicates balanced flow without strong directional skew. 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 T derived from ATM implied volatility at each listed expiration. Implied high/low bounds are computed as $24.88 × (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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 21, 2026 | 7 | 20.4% | 2.8% | $25.58 | $24.18 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 14 | 21.4% | 4.2% | $25.92 | $23.84 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 21 | 21.9% | 5.3% | $26.19 | $23.57 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 28 | 21.7% | 6.0% | $26.38 | $23.38 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 35 | 22.7% | 7.0% | $26.63 | $23.13 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 42 | 23.7% | 8.0% | $26.88 | $22.88 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 49 | 22.7% | 8.3% | $26.95 | $22.81 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 63 | 25.1% | 10.4% | $27.47 | $22.29 |
| Nov 20, 2026 | 98 | 25.9% | 13.4% | $28.22 | $21.54 |
| Dec 18, 2026 | 126 | 25.8% | 15.2% | $28.65 | $21.11 |
| Jan 15, 2027 | 154 | 27.0% | 17.5% | $29.24 | $20.52 |
| Mar 19, 2027 | 217 | 27.0% | 20.8% | $30.06 | $19.70 |
| Jun 17, 2027 | 307 | 27.2% | 24.9% | $31.09 | $18.67 |
| Oct 15, 2027 | 427 | 28.2% | 30.5% | $32.47 | $17.29 |
| Jan 21, 2028 | 525 | 28.0% | 33.6% | $33.23 | $16.53 |
| Apr 21, 2028 | 616 | 28.3% | 36.8% | $34.03 | $15.73 |
T highest implied-volatility contracts
| Type | Strike | Expiration | Volume | OI | IV | Bid | Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PUT | $24.00 | Aug 21, 2026 | 14.7K | 3.4K | 24.0% | $0.05 | $0.06 |
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 T expected move questions
- What is the current T expected move?
- As of Aug 14, 2026, AT&T Inc. (T) has an expected move of 6.32% over the next 28 days, implying a one-standard-deviation price range of $23.31 to $26.45 from the current $24.88. The expected move is derived from at-the-money straddle pricing and represents the market consensus for a ±1σ price move.
- What does the T 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 T 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.