QQQ vs SPY: median ATM implied volatility by month, since mid-2022

Name: QQQ vs SPY: median ATM implied volatility by month, since mid-2022
Creator: Strasmore
Published: 2026-08-22
License: https://www.strasmore.com/terms/

Answered against 22 years of US equities and 12 years of US options data and published with the query that produced it. This result is stored as of 2026-08-22, from QQQ Implied Volatility: IV Now & Its History.

as of 2026-08-22 series 50×3read in context →

QQQ vs SPY: median ATM implied volatility by month, since mid-2022 — 50 rows by 3 columns, computed 2026-08-22 from US exchange, SIP and OPRA data.
month	qqq_iv_pct	spy_iv_pct
2022-07-01	29.8	22.9
2022-08-01	25.8	19.7
2022-09-01	32.5	25.9
2022-10-01	34.8	28.2
2022-11-01	28.3	22.3
2022-12-01	26.6	20.9
2023-01-01	25.6	19.4
2023-02-01	25.4	18.6
2023-03-01	25.2	20.2
2023-04-01	21.1	15.9
2023-05-01	18.9	15.2
2023-06-01	18.5	12.3
2023-07-01	18.6	12.2
2023-08-01	19.5	14.1
2023-09-01	18.5	13.9
2023-10-01	21.6	16.9
2023-11-01	16.6	12.7
2023-12-01	15.5	11.9
2024-01-01	16.4	12
2024-02-01	16.6	12
2024-03-01	17.1	12.4
2024-04-01	19.1	14.7
2024-05-01	15.9	11.9
2024-06-01	15.6	11.8
2024-07-01	18	12.9
2024-08-01	21.8	15.7
2024-09-01	20.4	15.1
2024-10-01	20.7	15.9
2024-11-01	17.7	13.3
2024-12-01	16.1	12.2
2025-01-01	19.1	14.1
2025-02-01	18.7	13.8
2025-03-01	25	19.4
2025-04-01	32.1	27.2
2025-05-01	22	18.1
2025-06-01	18.8	15.5
2025-07-01	17	14.1
2025-08-01	16.8	13.2
2025-09-01	17	13
2025-10-01	19.7	14.9
2025-11-01	21.6	16.1
2025-12-01	17.6	13.2
2026-01-01	18.2	13.4
2026-02-01	21.6	16.2
2026-03-01	24.8	21.5
2026-04-01	21.3	16.6
2026-05-01	21.4	14.8
2026-06-01	24.8	15.3
2026-07-01	24.6	14.2
2026-08-01	19.9	12.7

Rows × columns: 50 × 3
Period covered: 2022-07-01 to 2026-08-01
Computed: 2026-08-22
Completeness: No missing values
Source: US exchange, SIP and OPRA market data
Licence: Strasmore terms · free, no signup
Formats: JSON · CSV · the SQL below

What each column holds

Column definitions for QQQ vs SPY: median ATM implied volatility by month, since mid-2022, derived from the stored result.
Column	Type	Range	Notes
`month`	date	2022-07-01 to 2026-08-01
`qqq_iv_pct`	number	15.5 to 34.8	percent
`spy_iv_pct`	number	11.8 to 28.2	percent

Computed from Strasmore's warehouse of US exchange, SIP and OPRA market data. Equity prices are delayed; options greeks and implied volatility are end-of-day. This result is stored, not recomputed on load — it is exactly the numbers that were returned on 2026-08-22, and the query below is what returned them.

the exact SQL behind every number

SELECT toString(toStartOfMonth(date)) AS month,
       round(100 * quantileExactIf(0.5)(implied_volatility, underlying_symbol = 'QQQ'), 1) AS qqq_iv_pct,
       round(100 * quantileExactIf(0.5)(implied_volatility, underlying_symbol = 'SPY'), 1) AS spy_iv_pct
FROM global_markets.options_greeks
WHERE underlying_symbol IN ('QQQ', 'SPY')
  AND date >= toDate('2022-07-01')
  AND iv_converged AND implied_volatility BETWEEN 0.02 AND 5
  AND abs(strike_price / underlying_close - 1) <= 0.05
  AND expiration_date BETWEEN date + 7 AND date + 60
GROUP BY month
HAVING countIf(underlying_symbol = 'QQQ') >= 50
ORDER BY month

Run your own version of this

The same 22 years of US equities and 12 years of options data are queryable in SQL or plain English. A free account runs 100 queries a day and takes no card.

More from this analysisQQQ Implied Volatility: IV Now & Its History

QQQ at-the-money implied volatility by session: trailing 90 days series 62×2 → QQQ ATM implied volatility by time to expiration: latest session ranking 4×3 → AAPL realized volatility: 20-session against 60-session lookback series 72×3 → META at-the-money implied volatility by session: trailing 90 days series 62×2 → AMZN at-the-money implied volatility by session: trailing 90 days series 62×2 → TSLA at-the-money implied volatility by session: trailing 90 days series 62×2 → See all 2,170 queries →