Daily BTC options market report · 24-hour comparison

BTC front-end volatility rises as skew turns call-rich31 August 2026

BTC’s principal surface move was a 1.11-point rise in 1W ATM IV to 34.67%, with front-end IV averaging 35.01%, up 0.72 points.

01 · Daily briefing

Macro · Crypto · Options

The day in markets.

BTC’s front end firmed into the 20:58 UTC cutoff, while the long end was largely unchanged and the curve flattened. The largest standard-tenor move was a routine 1W ATM IV increase, but 2W RR25 moved notably toward relative call-side volatility. Collected news supplied contemporaneous macro and crypto developments, yet the available reaction evidence does not establish a direct explanation for the closing repricing.

BTC front end firms into cutoff

One-week ATM IV increased while two-week skew shifted toward relative call-side volatility.

Editorial summaries are grounded in canonical events returned by the local news MCP. Links identify the underlying reporting; events are context, not assigned causes.

Completed-session cross-asset context

Crypto volatility against US equity risk.

Latest completed common context available before the report cutoff. Crypto and SPX realised volatility use different annualisation clocks: sqrt(365) and sqrt(252), respectively.

Implied-volatility premium

BTC 30-day ATM IV was 36.73%, against VIX at 14.43: a 22.30-point spread and 2.55× ratio.

Realised-volatility regime

BTC 20-calendar-day realised volatility was 45.92%, versus SPX 20-session realised volatility of 10.58%. The spread ranked at the 74.9th percentile of 223 prior observations.

Equity co-movement

Return correlation with SPX was 0.104 over 30 aligned sessions and 0.376 over 60 sessions. VIX9D, VIX and VIX3M closed at 11.22, 14.43 and 17.48.

As of 28 Aug 2026, 20:00 UTC. Persisted common US session. BTC realised volatility is annualised on sqrt(365); SPX realised volatility is annualised on sqrt(252). Null IV percentiles are preserved because no eligible prior observations were available.

02 · Options Market Read

What the volatility surface did.

1W ATM IV rose 1.11 volatility points to 34.67%, a routine move at the 43rd percentile. At the cutoff, realised volatility measured 42.01% over 24 hours, 38.01% over seven days and 36.11% over 30 days. Front-end ATM IV averaged 35.01%, +0.72 points from the prior snapshot, while the long end averaged 41.16%, +0.05 points. The 1Y-minus-1W ATM slope flattened 1.06 points to 7.61 points. 2W RR25 moved 1.06 volatility points toward calls to 0.71%, leaving calls richer than puts. 1M BF25 rose 0.16 volatility points to 2.25%. The nearest eligible forward, 3SEP26, rose $194.48 (+0.25%) to $78,871.76. Relevant context found; no confirmed catalyst; the strongest assessed relationship has low causal confidence.

Derived directly from structured Derivasys surface data

03 · Catalyst check

30 Aug 2026, 20:58 UTC to 31 Aug 2026, 20:58 UTC

Relevant context found; no confirmed catalyst

Relevant market events

2 events were retained after relevance scoring and event-level deduplication.

Confidencelow causal confidence

News is presented as contextual association unless the structured evidence supports a stronger relationship.

41 canonical events scanned through the news MCP across 3 publishers. 4 fell inside the report window; 3 were BTC-tagged; 3 passed the final threshold; 2 events displayed.

03 · Detailed summary

What changed across the BTC volatility surface.

Implied versus realised

At the 20:58 UTC cutoff, 1W ATM IV was 34.67%, 3.34 volatility points below seven-day realised volatility of 38.01%; 24-hour realised volatility was 42.01% and 30-day realised volatility was 36.11%.

Front end

Front-end ATM IV increased, averaging +0.72 volatility points to 35.01% across 1W, 2W and 1M.

Long end

Long-dated ATM IV was broadly unchanged, averaging +0.06 volatility points to 41.16% across 6M and 1Y.

Skew

RR25 moved towards calls, averaging +0.69 volatility points to 0.22% across the six headline tenors.

Convexity

BF25 was broadly unchanged, averaging +0.02 volatility points to 2.26% across the six headline tenors.

Largest standard-tenor move

The largest standard-tenor ATM IV move was +1.11 volatility points at 1W, to 34.67%.

Universe roll: no additions; removed 31AUG26. Comparisons use common expiries only.

04 · Standard-tenor ranking

Largest surface events

01

Largest eligible smile rotation

4SEP26, +3.54 vol pts
02

Largest standard-tenor ATM IV move

1W, +1.11 vol pts
03

Largest standard-tenor RR25 move

2W, +1.06 vol pts
04

Largest standard-tenor BF25 move

1M, +0.16 vol pts
05

Largest eligible SVI sigma move

25DEC26, -0.1415 param
06

Largest eligible SVI rho move

30OCT26, +0.1334 param

05 · ATM volatility

Standard-tenor ATM implied volatility.

32.5%35.2%37.9%40.6%43.3%1W2W1M3M6M9M1Y
TenorCurrent (vol %)Previous (vol %)Change (vol pts)Relative change
1W34.6733.56+1.11 vol pts+3.31%
2W34.9634.33+0.63 vol pts+1.84%
1M35.3934.98+0.41 vol pts+1.17%
3M38.0237.69+0.33 vol pts+0.88%
6M40.0539.99+0.06 vol pts+0.15%
9M41.4341.38+0.05 vol pts+0.12%
1Y42.2842.23+0.05 vol pts+0.12%

06 · Risk reversals

RR25 skew moved most at 2W.

RR25 moved towards calls, averaging +0.69 volatility points to 0.22% across the six headline tenors. Negative RR25 denotes a richer 25-delta put wing under the call-minus-put convention.

-1.5%-0.7%-0.0%0.7%1.4%1W2W1M3M6M9M1Y
TenorCurrent (vol %)Previous (vol %)Change (vol pts)
1W1.130.17+0.96 vol pts
2W0.71-0.35+1.06 vol pts
1M-0.13-1.19+1.06 vol pts
3M-0.35-0.83+0.48 vol pts
6M-0.20-0.68+0.48 vol pts
9M0.01-0.23+0.24 vol pts
1Y0.140.01+0.13 vol pts

07 · Butterflies

BF25 convexity changed most at 1M.

BF25 was broadly unchanged, averaging +0.02 volatility points to 2.26% across the six headline tenors. BF25 measures the average 25-delta wing premium over ATM IV.

1.6%2.0%2.3%2.7%3.1%1W2W1M3M6M9M1Y
TenorCurrent (vol %)Previous (vol %)Change (vol pts)
1W1.811.89-0.08 vol pts
2W1.891.91-0.02 vol pts
1M2.252.09+0.16 vol pts
3M2.212.210.00 vol pts
6M2.542.52+0.02 vol pts
9M2.752.73+0.02 vol pts
1Y2.882.85+0.03 vol pts

08 · Expiry effects

Near-settlement moves, shown with context.

Contracts with fewer than 2 full days to expiry remain in the tables but are excluded from headline rankings. Settlement proximity, time decay, changing liquidity and fewer quotes can exaggerate their changes.

0.5d

Smile rotation

1SEP26, -14.29 vol pts
1.5d

Smile rotation

2SEP26, +3.70 vol pts

09 · Volatility term structure

Today against the previous 24-hour snapshot.

The ATM chart above is the standard-tenor term structure. The listed-expiry table below preserves the exchange maturity detail underneath those interpolated tenors.

ExpiryTime leftForward now (USD)Forward change (USD)ATM IV nowATM IV changeRR25 changeBF25 change
1SEP26Expiry effect0.5 days78,852.15+200.29 USD33.90%-1.47 vol pts-2.15 vol pts-0.47 vol pts
2SEP26Expiry effect1.5 days78,859.95+194.93 USD33.79%+0.44 vol pts+0.47 vol pts-0.19 vol pts
3SEP262.5 days78,871.76+194.48 USD35.32%+2.28 vol pts+0.59 vol pts-0.21 vol pts
4SEP263.5 days78,883.8+198.19 USD35.75%+2.39 vol pts+1.00 vol pts+0.06 vol pts
11SEP2610.5 days78,934.88+206.49 USD34.32%+0.62 vol pts+1.11 vol pts-0.09 vol pts
18SEP2617.5 days79,002.89+220.94 USD35.33%+0.32 vol pts+1.12 vol pts-0.04 vol pts
25SEP2624.5 days79,045.39+222.25 USD35.08%+0.42 vol pts+1.32 vol pts+0.16 vol pts
30OCT2659.5 days79,452.31+239.89 USD36.07%+0.21 vol pts+0.43 vol pts+0.05 vol pts
27NOV2687.5 days79,768.12+229.14 USD37.88%+0.31 vol pts+0.44 vol pts-0.02 vol pts
25DEC26115.5 days80,096.2+213.06 USD38.74%+0.18 vol pts+0.84 vol pts+0.06 vol pts
26MAR27206.5 days80,997.29+210.38 USD40.32%+0.03 vol pts+0.40 vol pts0.00 vol pts
25JUN27297.5 days82,001.71+191.10 USD41.71%+0.04 vol pts+0.20 vol pts+0.02 vol pts

10 · Smile movement

Reconstructed SVI smiles for every common expiry.

Each overlay uses the stored five-parameter SVI fit and the snapshot-specific time to expiry. Ultra-short expiries are displayed but do not determine the headline ranking.

1SEP26rotation towards puts · wing steepening
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
2SEP26rotation towards calls · wing steepening
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
3SEP26rotation towards calls · wing steepening
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
4SEP26rotation towards calls · wing steepening
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
11SEP26rotation towards calls
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
18SEP26rotation towards calls
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
25SEP26rotation towards calls
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
30OCT26rotation towards calls
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
27NOV26rotation towards calls
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
25DEC26rotation towards calls
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
26MAR27limited movement
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
25JUN27limited movement
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k

Surface movement heatmap

Each cell is the fitted IV change in volatility points. Rows are listed expiries; columns run from the put wing through ATM to the call wing.

11 · SVI diagnostics

Daily movement in a, b, rho, m and sigma.

Among ranking-eligible expiries, the largest absolute rho change occurred at 30OCT26; the largest sigma change occurred at 25DEC26.

ExpiryΔ aΔ bΔ rhoΔ mΔ sigmaSmile classification
1SEP26+0.01190-0.02580-0.13250-0.07840+0.04840rotation towards puts, wing steepening
2SEP26+0.00790-0.01430+0.07360+0.04040+0.00240rotation towards calls, wing steepening
3SEP26-0.00230-0.00870+0.02970+0.01250+0.06130rotation towards calls, wing steepening
4SEP26+0.00530-0.00910+0.02620+0.00760-0.00990rotation towards calls, wing steepening
11SEP26+0.00450-0.00940+0.02060+0.00010+0.00390rotation towards calls
18SEP26+0.01060-0.01490+0.04830+0.02060-0.02580rotation towards calls
25SEP26+0.01870-0.01520+0.04770+0.02640-0.08220rotation towards calls
30OCT26-0.01100-0.00520+0.13340+0.06790+0.05040rotation towards calls
27NOV26+0.01250-0.02540+0.07170+0.06030-0.00050rotation towards calls
25DEC26+0.05470-0.01570-0.06300-0.04370-0.14150rotation towards calls
26MAR27+0.02740-0.00950-0.02640-0.03030-0.05900limited movement
25JUN27+0.04700-0.01770-0.02330-0.02230-0.08340limited movement

12 · Current surface characteristics

Where normalized model Greek intensity is highest.

These are comparable Black-forward Greeks for a one-BTC ATM-forward call at each listed expiry—not portfolio exposure, open interest or a prediction of dealer positioning.

Highest Vega25JUN27, 290.13748 USD / vol pt
Highest Gamma1SEP26, 0.000421 1 / USD
Highest Theta Decay1SEP26, -411.612523 USD / day
Highest Vanna25JUN27, 0.001769 delta / vol pt
Highest Volga25JUN27, -24.655814 USD / vol pt²

13 · Methodology and provenance

Generated from measured Derivasys surface data.

Current snapshot
31 Aug 2026, 20:58 UTC
Comparison snapshot
30 Aug 2026, 20:58 UTC
Source
Derivasys proprietary historical SVI surface and canonical BTC index databases
Realised volatility
Annualised root-mean-square of one-minute canonical BTC-USD index log returns using a 365-day basis; all windows end at the current snapshot.
Comparison window
Nearest successful surface snapshots approximately 24 hours apart
RR convention
25-delta call IV minus 25-delta put IV
BF convention
Average 25-delta wing IV minus ATM forward IV
Fixed tenors
Fixed-tenor measures are interpolated independently at 1W, 2W, 1M, 3M, 6M, 9M and 1Y; headline rankings prioritise 1W, 2W, 1M, 3M, 6M and 1Y.
Smile reconstruction
Listed-expiry smiles are reconstructed from stored SVI total-variance parameters on a fixed log-moneyness grid.
Ultra-short expiries
Expiries with fewer than 2 full days remaining stay in detailed tables but are excluded from headline rankings. Settlement proximity, time decay, changing liquidity and fewer quotes can exaggerate their changes.
Greek normalization
Black forward Greeks for a normalized one-BTC ATM-forward call, zero rate, fitted SVI IV
News window
30 Aug 2026, 20:58 UTC to 31 Aug 2026, 20:58 UTC
Feeds queried
1
Publishers queried
3
Feed articles scanned
41
Inside report window
4
Passed source rules
3
Passed final threshold
3
Event clusters displayed
2