VolRadar

VolRadar is a daily options analytics platform engineered specifically for premium sellers — traders who execute iron condors, credit spreads, cash-secured puts, and the wheel strategy on S&P 500 names. The platform transforms the complex, time-intensive process of identifying optimal premium-selling opportunities into a streamlined, data-driven workflow that takes approximately 30 seconds per day. Every night after the US market close, VolRadar pulls end-of-day options data from ORATS, runs it through proprietary volatility models, and ships a pre-market brief to users. By the time traders begin their morning routine, they already know which tickers offer the highest probability setups and which to avoid. The platform scans over 500 US stocks and major ETFs daily, delivering institutional-grade analytics that were previously available only to quantitative hedge funds. For the professional options trader or serious retail investor, VolRadar eliminates the 55 minutes of manual research typically required each morning, replacing it with computed strikes, volatility risk premium analysis, and an aggregated Weather Score that instantly communicates market conditions. The core value proposition is time efficiency combined with data accuracy: users reduce research time by over 90 percent while improving trade selection through systematic volatility edge analysis. VolRadar is powered by ORATS, CBOE, and S&P 500 data, ensuring every recommendation rests on institutional-grade inputs. The platform serves everyone from part-time retail traders to full-time professional money managers who need reliable, repeatable signals to scale their premium-selling operations without sacrificing analytical rigor.

Weather Score

The Weather Score is a composite index from 0 to 100 that distills five critical factors into a single, actionable number: Premium Edge, VIX level, Volatility Trend, Earnings Safety, and Term Structure. A score of 65 or above indicates favorable conditions for selling premium broadly across top candidates. Scores between 40 and 64 signal selective opportunities where traders should exercise caution. Below 40 recommends a defensive posture, avoiding premium selling entirely. This feature eliminates the guesswork of macro market assessment, providing an immediate green-yellow-red signal that aligns trading activity with current volatility environments. Users report that the Weather Score alone saves 10 to 15 minutes of morning market analysis by replacing manual VIX interpretation, term structure analysis, and earnings calendar review.

Full Ticker Report

The Full Ticker Report delivers a comprehensive analysis of any individual stock in the VolRadar universe, consolidating IV Rank, VRP (30-day IV minus 20-day realized volatility), earnings risk assessment, and strategy ranking into a single page. IV Rank uses a 252-day lookback on 30-day ATM implied volatility to identify whether current option premiums are high or low relative to historical norms. VRP quantifies the volatility risk premium — the difference between implied and realized volatility — which is the core edge for premium sellers. The report also flags earnings crush risk, showing per-ticker IV collapse patterns post-announcement. This feature enables traders to validate individual setups against multiple data dimensions before committing capital, reducing the probability of entering trades with hidden risks like impending earnings events or volatility regime changes.

Strategy Builder

The Strategy Builder automates the most time-consuming part of trade construction: strike selection. Users input their target delta or target credit, and the system computes precise strikes for iron condors, credit spreads, cash-secured puts, and covered calls. Each strategy comes pre-filled with breakeven points, maximum loss calculations, and P&L estimates across different expiration dates. The builder ranks up to three strategies per ticker, showing which approach offers the best risk-reward profile based on current volatility conditions. For example, a user targeting a $1.85 credit on a short put will see exact strike prices, probability of profit, and maximum loss figures computed in real time. This feature eliminates manual calculations and spreadsheet work, reducing trade construction time from 20 minutes to under 60 seconds per setup.

Pre-Market Brief

The Pre-Market Brief is a daily email delivered after market close, typically around 6 PM ET, containing the top five premium-selling candidates ranked by volatility edge. Each candidate includes its Edge score, IV Rank, RV Ratio, VRP, and any flags for earnings events or volatility spikes. The brief also summarizes macro conditions via the Weather Score and highlights changes in the broader opportunity set, such as the number of stocks with positive VRP or high IV. For subscribers to the Starter plan, this brief becomes the complete morning research document, eliminating the need to open any other platform before executing trades. The brief is designed for consumption in under two minutes, enabling traders to move directly from reading to order entry with full confidence in their selections.

Daily Morning Research Optimization

A professional options trader managing a portfolio of 20 to 30 premium-selling positions needs to assess daily which positions to adjust, close, or add to. Without VolRadar, this process involves scanning multiple data sources for IV changes, earnings announcements, and volatility regime shifts — typically taking 45 to 60 minutes. Using VolRadar, the trader opens the Pre-Market Brief at 6 AM, reviews the Weather Score (one second), scans the top five candidates (15 seconds), and checks any flagged tickers in their existing positions (10 seconds). Total research time drops to under 30 seconds, with the added benefit that the platform systematically surfaces opportunities the trader might have missed manually. This efficiency gain translates to approximately 200 hours saved annually per trader, directly increasing capacity for trade analysis and risk management.

Earnings Season Premium Selling

During earnings season, implied volatility typically expands significantly before announcements and collapses afterward, creating ideal conditions for premium sellers who can identify post-earnings crush opportunities. VolRadar’s Earnings Safety factor within the Weather Score flags tickers where earnings risk is manageable, while the per-ticker earnings crush analysis shows expected IV collapse percentages. A trader running iron condors can filter for tickers with high pre-earnings IV, strong earnings safety scores, and VRP above 5 percentage points. The platform automatically excludes tickers where earnings dates fall within the trade’s expiration window unless the user explicitly overrides this gate. This systematic approach prevents the common mistake of selling premium into an earnings event without properly pricing the binary risk, protecting capital while capturing the volatility crush premium.

Covered Call Portfolio Management

Income-focused investors running covered call programs on dividend-paying S&P 500 stocks use VolRadar to identify which positions to write calls against and at what strike prices. The Covered Call Screener ranks stocks by premium-to-risk ratio, showing which underlying assets offer the best call-writing opportunities based on current IV Rank and VRP. The Strategy Builder then computes optimal strike prices for monthly or weekly expirations, balancing premium income against the risk of assignment. For a portfolio of 50 stocks, this screening process previously required manually checking each ticker’s option chain and calculating breakeven points. VolRadar reduces this to a single sortable list, with computed strikes that update automatically as volatility conditions change. Users report increasing covered call income by 15 to 25 percent simply by focusing on high-IV Rank names rather than writing calls uniformly across their portfolio.

Wheel Strategy Execution

The wheel strategy — selling cash-secured puts on stocks you want to own, then selling covered calls if assigned — requires constant monitoring of IV conditions to maximize premium collection while minimizing assignment risk. VolRadar supports this strategy by identifying tickers where put premiums are elevated relative to historical norms, indicating favorable entry points for put selling. The scanner flags stocks with IV Rank above 70 and VRP above 5 percentage points, while the earnings safety filter ensures trades avoid binary events. After assignment, the same platform transitions to identifying covered call opportunities on the newly acquired shares. This end-to-end workflow support means wheel traders can manage their entire cycle within a single platform, from initial put sale through potential assignment to subsequent call writing, without switching between multiple tools or data sources.

What data sources does VolRadar use?

VolRadar pulls end-of-day options data from ORATS, a leading provider of institutional-grade options analytics. The platform also incorporates data from CBOE and S&P 500 indices for macro-level volatility analysis. This combination ensures that all computed metrics — IV Rank, VRP, term structure, and earnings crush — are based on accurate, time-stamped market data. The data updates daily around 6 PM ET after the US market close, ensuring users have the most current information before the next trading session begins.

How is the Weather Score calculated?

The Weather Score is a composite index from 0 to 100 that averages five equally weighted factors: Premium Edge (the overall availability of overpriced options), VIX level (absolute implied volatility), Volatility Trend (direction of IV over the past 5 days), Earnings Safety (proximity to earnings events and their typical IV crush magnitude), and Term Structure (the slope of the volatility curve across expirations). Each factor is scored independently, then aggregated into the final score. A score of 65 or above indicates favorable conditions for broad premium selling, 40 to 64 suggests selective opportunities, and below 40 recommends a defensive posture.

What is the difference between the Free and Starter plans?

The Free plan includes the Weather Score, four calculators (including the Options Calculator and P&L Calculator), and a basic scanner that shows 5 top candidates. The Starter plan at $19 per month unlocks the full scanner covering all 500+ tickers, the daily Pre-Market Brief, computed strikes for any ticker, up to three ranked strategies per name, and earnings risk gates that automatically flag or exclude tickers with upcoming earnings. The Starter plan is designed for active premium sellers who need comprehensive daily screening and trade construction capabilities. Both plans are available with no credit card required for the Free tier.

Does VolRadar provide trade execution or brokerage services?

No, VolRadar is strictly an analytics and research platform. It does not execute trades, hold funds, or integrate directly with brokerages. The platform provides computed strikes, strategy rankings, and volatility analytics that users can apply within their existing brokerage accounts. This separation of analysis and execution ensures that users maintain full control over their trading decisions and can choose any broker that meets their needs. VolRadar focuses exclusively on delivering accurate, timely data and actionable insights to improve trade selection and timing.

VolRadar offers two pricing tiers. The Free plan provides access to the Weather Score, four calculators, and a basic scanner showing the top five candidates, with no credit card required. The Starter plan costs $19 per month and unlocks the full scanner covering all 500+ tickers, the daily Pre-Market Brief delivered after market close, computed strikes for any ticker, up to three ranked strategies per name, and earnings risk gates. There are no annual contracts or hidden fees. Users can start with the Free tier and upgrade to Starter at any time. Detailed methodology documentation is available at volradar.com/methodology.