Skip to main content
Studies · Volatility

Realized Volatility

realizedVol · Annualized realized vol from a daily variance: √(var·252), in percent

Drawn in its own panelReads a daily variance
Hover the chart to read values · practice data: a seeded random walk with no overnight gaps

What it measures

Turns a daily variance into an annualized volatility in percent: the square root of (variance × 252), times 100. It is how much the underlying actually moved, put on the same scale options traders quote implied volatility in.

How traders use it

  • Implied versus realized: comparing what options are pricing (implied vol) with what the stock is actually doing (realized vol). When implied sits well above realized, options look expensive; well below, cheap. This spread is the core of volatility trading.
  • Regime: a jump in realized vol marks a change in how violently the stock is trading, which feeds position sizing and hedging frequency.

Parameters

None — the study is fully defined by its formula.

Good to know

This study expects a daily VARIANCE as its input, not a price. On this page it reads the fixture’s close-to-close variance, and the top panel shows the fixture’s 21-day implied vol for comparison. It is Tidal’s own study and has no parameters: any averaging window belongs to the variance it is given.