What is Vega? Vega measures the amount of increase or decrease in an option premium based on a 1% change in implied volatility. Vega is a derivative of implied volatility. Implied volatility is defined as the market's forecast of a likely movement in the underlying security.
A high vega option -- if you want one -- generally costs a little more than an out-of-the-money option, and has a higher-than-average theta (or time decay). Lower-vega options that are out of the money are dirt cheap, but not all that responsive to price changes in the underlying stock or index.
BS: There isn't an "ideal" vega for call purchases -- just remember: the lower, the better. When buying options, you don't want to be penalized for buying excessively expensive ones.
Vega measures the sensitivity of the price of an option to changes in volatility. A change in volatility will affect both calls and puts the same way. An increase in volatility will increase the prices of all the options on an asset, and a decrease in volatility causes all the options to decrease in value.
Vega is the Greek that measures an option's sensitivity to implied volatility. It is the change in the option's price for a one-point change in implied volatility. Traders usually refer to the volatility without the decimal point. For example, volatility at 14% would commonly be referred to as “vol at 14.”
Longer dated options have a higher Vega value. This is a reflection of Vega's sensitivity to time. The more time an option has to be above or below its strike, the more sensitive the option will be to changes in implied volatility.
Vega has the same value for calls and puts and its' value is a positive number. That means when you buy an option, whether call or put, you have a positive Vega. This is also called being long Vega. As Vega is effected by volatility, a long Vega position means you want the volatility to rise.
To calculate the vega of an options portfolio, you simply sum up the vegas of all the positions. The vega on short positions should be subtracted by the vega on long positions (all weighted by the lots). In a vega neutral portfolio, total vega of all the positions will be zero.
Vega is the Greek that reports how the value of an option changes with increases or decreases in implied volatility. In this regard, vega helps traders understand how sensitive an option is to changes in the “speed of the market.”
Vega is one of option Greeks, which measures how the value of an option (or a combination of options) changes when implied volatility increases. Positive vega means that the position gains value with rising volatility, while negative vega means it loses.
Vega increases with longer time to expiration and decreases with less time to expiration. The term structure of implied volatility describes, for a given exercise strike price at a given date in time, the relationship between implied volatility and option maturity.
Call options have a positive Delta that can range from 0.00 to 1.00. At-the-money options usually have a Delta near 0.50.
Options that have high levels of implied volatility will result in high-priced option premiums. Conversely, as the market's expectations decrease, or demand for an option diminishes, implied volatility will decrease. Options containing lower levels of implied volatility will result in cheaper option prices.
Around 20-30% IV is typically what you can expect from an ETF like SPY. While these numbers are on the lower end of possible implied volatility, there is still a 16% chance that the stock price moves further than the implied volatility range over the course of a year.
Implied volatility shows the market's opinion of the stock's potential moves, but it doesn't forecast direction. If the implied volatility is high, the market thinks the stock has potential for large price swings in either direction, just as low IV implies the stock will not move as much by option expiration.
Vega changes when there are large price movements (increased volatility) in the underlying asset, and falls as the option approaches expiration. Vega is one of a group of Greeks used in options analysis.
Definition: The vega of an option is the sensitivity of the option price to a change in volatility. The vega of a call option satisfies vega = ∂C ∂σ = e−qT S √ T φ(d1).
Both implied volatility (IV) and vega are important when analyzing an options position, but their differences may not be obvious. Simply put, both provide information about how a given option or options position may react in the future, and both are products of an options pricing model.
Delta is positive for call options and negative for put options. That is because a rise in price of the stock is positive for call options but negative for put options. A positive delta means that you are long on the market and a negative delta means that you are short on the market.
Gamma measures delta's rate of change over time, as well as the rate of change in the underlying asset. Gamma helps forecast price moves in the underlying asset. Vega measures the risk of changes in implied volatility or the forward-looking expected volatility of the underlying asset price.
Theta is typically higher for short-dated options, especially near-the-money, as there is more urgency for the underlying to move in the money before expiration. Theta is a negative value for long (purchased) positions and a positive value for short (sold) positions – regardless if the contract is a call or a put.
The Vega of an option measures the rate of change of option's value (premium) with every percentage change in volatility. Since options gain value with increase in volatility, the vega is a positive number, for both calls and puts.
Vega can either be positive or negative, depending on the position. Long positions in options come with positive vega, and short positions in options come with negative vega, regardless of the option being a call or put.
As time elapses, option vega decreases – that is, decays with time. Time amplifies the effect of volatility changes. As a result, vega is greater for long-dated options than for short dated options. Since LEAPS have a high vega, a rise in volatility (or IV) would raise the level of time value on a long LEAPS position.