Daily ETH options market report · 24-hour comparison

Ether falls as the front end cheapens29 August 2026

Front-end ATM IV declined 2.13 volatility points on average, while 1W implied volatility remained 10.82 points below seven-day realised volatility.

01 · Daily briefing

Macro · Crypto · Options

The day in markets.

Ether fell 2.54 per cent over the 24-hour window, underperforming Bitcoin as markets continued to digest Kevin Warsh’s warning that stubborn inflation could require higher US rates. Two-week implied volatility fell 2.73 points to 45.15 per cent and one-week risk reversal swung towards puts. One-week implied volatility remains well below seven-day realised volatility, while a brief Kraken funding delay was resolved during the session without evidence that it drove the broader repricing.

Ether falls as the front end cheapens

Ether’s spot decline was accompanied by lower implied volatility across the curve and a defensive turn in short-dated skew, while long-dated volatility was comparatively stable.

Macro

Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole message left open the possibility of US rate increases if inflation fails to cool, keeping the wider policy setting restrictive for crypto and other risk assets.

Crypto

Kraken reported and then resolved a short-lived delay affecting Ethereum funding. It was operationally relevant to ETH users, but the available evidence does not establish a connection to the broader spot or volatility move.

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

02 · Options Market Read

What the volatility surface did.

2W ATM IV fell 2.73 volatility points to 45.15%, a routine move at the 64th percentile. At the cutoff, realised volatility measured 35.21% over 24 hours, 54.26% over seven days and 49.13% over 30 days. Front-end ATM IV averaged 45.77%, -2.13 points from the prior snapshot, while the long end averaged 55.33%, -0.20 points. The 1Y-minus-1W ATM slope steepened 2.00 points to 12.67 points. 1W RR25 moved 2.02 volatility points toward puts to -1.13%, leaving puts richer than calls. 1M BF25 fell 0.25 volatility points to 2.56%. The nearest eligible forward, 1SEP26, fell $61.27 (-2.45%) to $2,443.80. No sufficiently relevant context identified; the strongest assessed relationship has low causal confidence.

Derived directly from structured Derivasys surface data

03 · Catalyst check

28 Aug 2026, 15:33 UTC to 29 Aug 2026, 15:33 UTC

No sufficiently relevant context identified

No sufficiently relevant context identified

No article met the threshold for inclusion, so the report does not assign a news catalyst.

Confidencelow causal confidence

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

310 feed articles scanned across 13 feeds and 13 publishers. 38 fell inside the report window; 3 passed source relevance rules; 0 passed the final threshold; 0 events displayed.

03 · Detailed summary

What changed across the ETH volatility surface.

Implied versus realised

At the 15:33 UTC cutoff, 1W ATM IV was 43.44%, 10.82 volatility points below seven-day realised volatility of 54.26%; 24-hour realised volatility was 35.21% and 30-day realised volatility was 49.13%.

Front end

Front-end ATM IV decreased, averaging -2.13 volatility points to 45.77% across 1W, 2W and 1M.

Long end

Long-dated ATM IV decreased, averaging -0.21 volatility points to 55.33% across 6M and 1Y.

Skew

RR25 moved towards puts, averaging -1.05 volatility points to -0.32% across the six headline tenors.

Convexity

BF25 decreased, averaging -0.14 volatility points to 2.65% across the six headline tenors.

Largest standard-tenor move

The largest standard-tenor ATM IV move was -2.73 volatility points at 2W, to 45.15%.

Universe roll: added 2SEP26; removed 29AUG26. Comparisons use common expiries only.

04 · Standard-tenor ranking

Largest surface events

01

Largest eligible smile rotation

4SEP26, -6.93 vol pts
02

Largest standard-tenor ATM IV move

2W, -2.73 vol pts
03

Largest standard-tenor RR25 move

1W, -2.02 vol pts
04

Largest standard-tenor BF25 move

1M, -0.25 vol pts
05

Largest eligible SVI sigma move

4SEP26, +0.0725 param
06

Largest eligible SVI rho move

11SEP26, -0.0612 param

05 · ATM volatility

Standard-tenor ATM implied volatility.

41.9%45.9%49.8%53.7%57.7%1W2W1M3M6M9M1Y
TenorCurrent (vol %)Previous (vol %)Change (vol pts)Relative change
1W43.4445.47-2.03 vol pts-4.46%
2W45.1547.88-2.73 vol pts-5.70%
1M48.7350.35-1.62 vol pts-3.22%
3M52.2752.99-0.72 vol pts-1.36%
6M54.5554.93-0.38 vol pts-0.69%
9M55.6055.75-0.15 vol pts-0.27%
1Y56.1156.14-0.03 vol pts-0.05%

06 · Risk reversals

RR25 skew moved most at 1W.

RR25 moved towards puts, averaging -1.05 volatility points to -0.32% across the six headline tenors. Negative RR25 denotes a richer 25-delta put wing under the call-minus-put convention.

-1.4%-0.7%0.0%0.7%1.4%1W2W1M3M6M9M1Y
TenorCurrent (vol %)Previous (vol %)Change (vol pts)
1W-1.130.89-2.02 vol pts
2W-0.251.14-1.39 vol pts
1M-0.880.53-1.41 vol pts
3M-0.310.50-0.81 vol pts
6M-0.080.30-0.38 vol pts
9M0.400.75-0.35 vol pts
1Y0.751.06-0.31 vol pts

07 · Butterflies

BF25 convexity changed most at 1M.

BF25 decreased, averaging -0.14 volatility points to 2.65% across the six headline tenors. BF25 measures the average 25-delta wing premium over ATM IV.

2.1%2.4%2.7%3.0%3.3%1W2W1M3M6M9M1Y
TenorCurrent (vol %)Previous (vol %)Change (vol pts)
1W2.292.49-0.20 vol pts
2W2.692.78-0.09 vol pts
1M2.562.81-0.25 vol pts
3M2.853.10-0.25 vol pts
6M2.922.96-0.04 vol pts
9M2.742.75-0.01 vol pts
1Y2.592.60-0.01 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.

0.7d

Smile rotation

30AUG26, -17.70 vol pts
1.7d

Smile rotation

31AUG26, -9.74 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
30AUG26Expiry effect0.7 days2,442.97-61.12 USD29.60%-7.36 vol pts-3.18 vol pts-0.96 vol pts
31AUG26Expiry effect1.7 days2,443.33-61.12 USD34.47%-2.87 vol pts-2.04 vol pts-0.58 vol pts
1SEP262.7 days2,443.8-61.27 USD38.68%-2.84 vol pts-1.85 vol pts-0.35 vol pts
4SEP265.7 days2,444.76-61.31 USD42.85%-2.39 vol pts-2.46 vol pts-0.38 vol pts
11SEP2612.7 days2,446.3-61.41 USD44.55%-3.20 vol pts-1.41 vol pts-0.11 vol pts
18SEP2619.7 days2,448.15-62.09 USD46.79%-2.91 vol pts-1.45 vol pts+0.01 vol pts
25SEP2626.7 days2,451.19-62.32 USD48.20%-1.89 vol pts-1.68 vol pts-0.30 vol pts
30OCT2661.7 days2,456.13-63.00 USD50.84%-1.10 vol pts-0.46 vol pts-0.10 vol pts
27NOV2689.7 days2,462.39-61.69 USD52.24%-0.74 vol pts-0.82 vol pts-0.26 vol pts
25DEC26117.7 days2,467.22-61.31 USD52.74%-0.79 vol pts-0.33 vol pts-0.11 vol pts
26MAR27208.7 days2,492.86-60.74 USD54.96%-0.31 vol pts-0.39 vol pts-0.01 vol pts
25JUN27299.7 days2,520.49-61.67 USD55.78%-0.11 vol pts-0.33 vol pts-0.01 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.

30AUG26rotation towards puts · wing steepening
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
31AUG26rotation towards puts · wing steepening
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
1SEP26rotation towards puts · wing steepening
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
4SEP26rotation towards puts · wing steepening
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
11SEP26rotation towards puts · wing steepening
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
18SEP26rotation towards puts · wing steepening
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
25SEP26rotation towards puts
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
30OCT26parallel shift lower
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
27NOV26rotation towards puts
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
25DEC26parallel shift lower
-0.30k0.00k+0.30k
26MAR27parallel shift lower
-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 11SEP26; the largest sigma change occurred at 4SEP26.

ExpiryΔ aΔ bΔ rhoΔ mΔ sigmaSmile classification
30AUG26-0.00190-0.03720-0.11190-0.07280+0.29580rotation towards puts, wing steepening
31AUG26-0.00680-0.01440-0.10920-0.07430+0.13130rotation towards puts, wing steepening
1SEP26+0.00240-0.01050-0.02470-0.00890+0.03360rotation towards puts, wing steepening
4SEP26-0.01220-0.00010-0.03820-0.02170+0.07250rotation towards puts, wing steepening
11SEP26-0.00030+0.00580-0.06120-0.02560-0.02000rotation towards puts, wing steepening
18SEP26+0.00630+0.00370-0.05130-0.00720-0.05340rotation towards puts, wing steepening
25SEP26-0.00920-0.00120-0.03010-0.00860+0.04950rotation towards puts
30OCT26+0.00060-0.00140-0.02890-0.01080-0.00740parallel shift lower
27NOV26-0.00400-0.00600-0.01130+0.00500+0.03150rotation towards puts
25DEC26+0.00250-0.00610-0.01120+0.00210-0.00640parallel shift lower
26MAR27+0.01270-0.01450+0.00550+0.03530-0.02540parallel shift lower
25JUN27-0.00420+0.01140-0.03630-0.02630-0.00480limited movement

12 · Current surface characteristics

Where normalized model Greek intensity is highest.

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

Highest Vega25JUN27, 8.824967 USD / vol pt
Highest Gamma30AUG26, 0.012731 1 / USD
Highest Theta Decay30AUG26, -9.119127 USD / day
Highest Vanna25JUN27, 0.001751 delta / vol pt
Highest Volga25JUN27, -1.010426 USD / vol pt²

13 · Methodology and provenance

Generated from measured Derivasys surface data.

Current snapshot
29 Aug 2026, 15:33 UTC
Comparison snapshot
28 Aug 2026, 15:33 UTC
Source
Derivasys proprietary historical SVI surface and canonical ETH index databases
Realised volatility
Annualised root-mean-square of one-minute canonical ETH-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-ETH ATM-forward call, zero rate, fitted SVI IV
News window
28 Aug 2026, 15:33 UTC to 29 Aug 2026, 15:33 UTC
Feeds queried
13
Publishers queried
13
Feed articles scanned
310
Inside report window
38
Passed source rules
3
Passed final threshold
0
Event clusters displayed
0