tilt

what it shows

Tilt is skewbot's normalized measure of the steepness of the volatility curve. High tilts indicate that volatility is increasingly expensive as we go up in strike price. Low tilts indicate that volatility gets cheaper as we go up in strike price.

Because these measurements are normalized, tilts can be compared across tickers and across expirations without issue.

Rather than measuring the entire smile as a single relative value, skewbot tracks the steepness of the upside (call-side) and downside (put-side) curves independently. This allows you to see how the pricing structure of upside optionality and downside protection are evolving on their own terms.

skewbot calculates and plots these metrics for both dealer and paper flow:

• Dealer Upside / Downside — Reflects market maker pricing of the upside and downside volatility curves.
• Paper Upside / Downside — Reflects non-dealer/client positioning and demand.

dealer vs. paper

Dealer — Reflects the net positioning of market makers. When dealers shift their upside or downside curve steepness, it typically indicates they are repricing risk parameters to offset or manage inventory imbalances.

Paper — Reflects the activity of active transactors. A rising paper tilt shows that transactors are aggressively bidding up options along that side of the curve, pushing prices to a steeper steepness.

reading the chart

The y-axis represents the tilt scalar. Upside and downside curves are plotted in opposite directions relative to the zero line:

• Upside Tilt (Call side) is plotted as a positive value (extending above the zero line). A rising upside line indicates that call options are pricing in a steeper volatility curve.
• Downside Tilt (Put side) is plotted as a negative value (extending below the zero line, scaled by -1.0). A descending downside line indicates that put options are pricing in a steeper volatility curve.
• The Zero Line represents the baseline at-the-money volatility.

By showing both directions simultaneously, you can see if the overall surface is experiencing symmetric demand (both upside and downside steepness expanding), one-sided pressure (only one side steepening), or a shift in the overall curve shape.

dte filter

The DTE selector filters which expirations are included. Near-term expirations are highly sensitive to immediate intraday moves and flows, while longer-dated tenors reflect more structural hedging boundaries.