Term structure, put-call skew, IV rank and NVRP explained on the surfaces that show them. Why an inverted term structure usually means the market knows something, and why IV rank alone is a poor gate for selling premium.
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Direction is one decision. Whether options are expensive or cheap is a completely separate one, and it decides whether the situation favors buying premium or selling it. This tab is where that second question lives.
Term structure is implied volatility plotted across expirations. Normally the far months carry more than the near ones, which is called contango. When that inverts and the near months are priced above the far ones, the market is pricing something soon: an earnings print, a decision, an event. An inverted curve is not automatically an opportunity. It is usually the market being right about a risk you have not looked up yet.
Skew is implied volatility across strikes at one expiry. In equities the downside almost always carries more than the upside, because that is where the demand for protection is. What matters is how steep it is compared to where it usually sits for that name. This platform treats a steep put smile as a warning against bullish credit spreads rather than as extra premium to collect, and a rich call wing the same way for bear calls. Smile shape carries directional information, so the adjustment can only ever subtract from a grade.
IV rank tells you where implied volatility sits against its own history. It is useful context and it has a specific failure: it reads highest right after a volatility spike, which is exactly when the real premium is already thinning out. So the primary gate for selling premium here is NVRP instead, which compares the implied volatility you would be selling against the stock's realized volatility over the trade's own timeframe. Selling volatility that is not actually above what the stock is doing is the trade that quietly loses.
Skew scan runs the same read across your whole watchlist and surfaces the names sitting at unusual put-call skew or in term-structure backwardation. It is a starting point for a question, not an answer.
Options Scanner is operated by Avenix Solutions LLC. It is not a broker-dealer and not an investment adviser, and it never holds customer funds. Options involve risk and are not suitable for every investor. Thanks for watching.