volatility curves

Vola Dynamics

Intuitive. Fast. Robust.

The Market Standard in Options Analytics.

Battle-tested

For Vanillas & vol derivatives (VIX, var, vol swaps)

Any underlier Any asset class Any market

Trusted by the world's best 

And many others...

Built for options desks

Why Vola?

  • Do you need a fast, robust, and accurate options pricer for valuations and greeks?
  • Do you need a robust, real-time borrow and volatility fitter for electronic trading?
  • Do you need stable, arbitrage-free vol surfaces to feed into your LV or SLV model?
auto fa   = makeFactoryAnalytics();
auto fp   = std::string("AEX_20160622-160000.000-CET_ocpf-eq.json.gz"); // serialized price fitter
auto ocpf = fa->makeOptionChainPricerFitterEquity(fp);         // create fitter from serialized instance
auto oc   = ocpf->optionChain();                               // the option chain with contract information
auto ps   = ocpf->priceSnapshot();                             // price snapshot with price information
auto vcts = VecVCT{ VCT::C6, VCT::C10M };                      // curve type to use for fitting vols
auto rf   = ocpf->fit(ps, vcts);                               // fit price snapshot
auto vs   = rf->volSurface();                                  // use the volsurface for pricing
auto ocp  = fa->makeOptionChainPricerEquity(oc, vs)            // create pricer
auto rp   = ocp->price();                                      // compute prices and greeks for all options in the option chain

Why Teams Choose Vola

Flexible & Intuitive

Trade any index, ETF/stock, or futures options in any asset class (equity or FICC) off auto-fitted and/or easily adjusted surfaces.

Robust & Fast

Market maker quality valuations and vol surfaces in milliseconds.

Easy Integration

Drop-in replacement for critical pricing and fitting infrastructure (C++, Python, Java, C#).

Supported directly by the quants who build it.

A Complete Volatility and Pricing Infrastructure

  • Proper spot-vol dynamics

    e.g. via "SSR", is integrated throughout, for accurate "smart" delta and gamma, realistic spot scenarios (incl. overnight), and temporal smoothing without bias.

  • Bias-free fits of arbitrary market vol shapes including W-shapes

    Fit even the most liquid names like SPX, SPY, ES, NVDA, TSLA, etc, including around events or periods of market turmoil.

  • Intuitive and flexible parametric curves

    Way beyond simple curves like SABR, SSVI, SVI (which are also available).

  • Cash dividend & forward modeling

    Accurate and flexible, including "blending schemes", large borrows (HTB), funding curves, etc.

  • Implied borrow, forward and vol calculations

    Fast, accurate and robust for any dividend model.

  • All greeks

    Delta, gamma, vega, volga, vanna, rho, rhoBorrow, rhoDiv, thetas (with regard to rate or vol time), fugit.

  • Flexible temporal filtering and priors

    Allow intuitive stabilization of vol surfaces even if data become very sparse over extended periods.

  • Vol surface shape transformations

    Universal and intuitive across all curve types. Extend vol surfaces beyond listed expiries, or proxy to other names, etc.

  • Subtleties for modern markets

    Rate term-structure pricing, vol-time, events, and settlement effects.

Products

Base Package
Pricer
  • Super-fast and robust pricing of European and American vanillas, with accurate handling of cash dividends.
  • Prices the whole US options universe on one box in a fraction of a second (without a table method!).
  • Choice of several dividend pricing models actually used by the most successful options trading firms.
  • Covers options on stocks, ETFs, futures, and indices.
  • Handles large borrow costs and any number of cash dividends.
  • Has all greeks: delta, gamma, vega, volga, vanna, rho, rhoBorrow, theta, fugit.
  • Fast and accurate implied vol calculation for any dividend model.
Fitter
  • Super-fast and robust. Fit the whole US options universe on one box!
  • Based on modern Bayesian ideas, superior numerics, and 30 years of trading and research. Robustness is achieved by transferring information across strikes, expiries and time (filtering).
  • Uses unique set of flexible and intuitive curves (see Curves for details), allowing smooth and bias-free fits of all observed skews in the market.
  • Adjust volatility surfaces between fits using proper spot-vol dynamics.
  • The fitter can produce stable, arbitrage-free volatility surfaces even in the far wings, beyond the range of listed options, as required for the calibration of the various “SLVJ” models used for exotics and structured products.
Curves
  • Easily create and manipulate vol curves and surfaces to fit any market.
  • We offer an intuitive and flexible family of nested parametric curves, way beyond standard curves like SSVI and SVI (which we also offer).
  • Curves allow the fitting of options on liquid ETFs like SPY and futures like ES, CL, and even the W-shaped volatility curves of tech names like SPX, SPY, ES, NVDA, TSLA, etc, around earnings. No such curves are available anywhere else.
  • Easily manipulate overall vol level and curve shape (ATF skew & curvature, and each wing independently).
  • Easily switch between different curve types.
  • Sensible book-level sensitivities to intuitive parameters, even across curve types.
  • Curves can be used in a real-time fitter (see Fitter), or managed “by hand” if desired.
Optional Modules
  • Use greeks or scenarios to analyse your PnL for vanilla and vol derivatives.
  • Explain PnL on an instrument or portfolio level.
  • For PnL explanation with greeks, use smart or BS greeks.
  • For PnL explanation with scenarios, use realistic or “sticky-strike” spot-vol dynamics.
  • Breakdown of vol PnL in ATF, skew, curvature and unexplained PnL.
  • Consistently attribute PnL for both vanilla and vol derivatives.
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Trusted by Experts

Our clients trust Vola Dynamics to maintain their core valuation and risk analytics (pricing, greeks, volatility surface fitting, scenario analysis) for equity, futures and index options.

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