Volatility Dispersion Measures

Measure

Volatility dispersion measures quantify the difference between the implied volatilities of individual assets and the implied volatility of a market index or basket of assets. These measures assess how spread out or concentrated the market’s expectations of future price fluctuations are across different components. A high dispersion suggests that individual assets are expected to move independently, while low dispersion indicates a more correlated market. For options traders, this is a key metric for identifying relative value opportunities. It provides insight into market heterogeneity.