Editorial Review
VolRadarVolRadar Review: A Weather Report for Options Premium Sellers
VolRadar tells you before 9:30 AM ET whether today is worth selling premium — and which of 500+ S&P 500 names are set up for it. A daily Weather Score (0–100), up to three pre-computed ranked strategies per ticker, and an adaptive engine that will tell you to sit out — powered by the same ORATS data feed institutional volatility desks use.
Editorial Review by Launchstag · August 13, 2026 · 8 min read
Key Takeaways
- 1Weather Score condenses five volatility signals into a single 0–100 daily read — green light, selective, or sit out
- 2Full Scanner ranks 500+ S&P 500 tickers with up to three pre-computed strategies per name, drawn from a pool of seven defined-risk structures
- 3Powered by ORATS institutional-grade options data, refreshed daily post-close
- 4Free tier is genuinely usable: Weather Score, top 5 scanned tickers, AI Market Brief, one full ticker report per day, Dealer GEX Map, and the calculators
- 57-day free trial plus 14-day money-back guarantee on both paid tiers; Starter is $19/mo ($171/yr — saves $57, 3 months free), Premium is $49/mo ($439/yr) and adds a daily rules-based playbook plus pre-open email
What VolRadar Does
VolRadar is a daily analytics layer for options premium sellers — the trading style where the goal is to collect option premium as time decay works in your favour, using cash-secured puts, covered calls, credit spreads, iron condors, and the wheel strategy. It's built to replace the 45–60 minutes traders typically spend running screeners, checking IV rank tickers one at a time, cross-referencing earnings calendars, and building candidate lists. Every morning before the bell, VolRadar pre-computes the setup for 500+ S&P 500 stocks and ETFs: a single Weather Score for the market regime, IV rank for every liquid ticker, volatility risk premium (implied vs realized), and ranked candidates sorted by edge. It's not a broker, and it doesn't route orders — it's a decision layer that sits between raw market data and whatever platform you already trade through.
VolRadar at a Glance
| Aspect | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Options Analytics | Premium selling — CSPs, CCs, credit spreads, iron condors, wheels |
| Core promise | ~55 min of evening research → 30-second morning check | Pre-computed setups before the bell |
| Universe | 500+ S&P 500 stocks and ETFs | US equity and ETF options only |
| Weather Score | 0–100 daily composite | Premium Edge · VIX Regime · Volatility Trend · Earnings Safety · Term Structure |
| Free tier | Weather Score, top 5 scanned tickers, AI Market Brief, 1 ticker report/day, Dealer GEX Map, calculators | No card required |
| Paid tiers | $19/mo Starter ($171/yr), $49/mo Premium ($439/yr) | 7-day free trial plus 14-day money-back guarantee |
| Data source | ORATS institutional-grade options data | Refreshed daily post-close |
| Learn hub | 18-guide learn hub + 50+ term glossary + published methodology | Plus a 19-year SPY Strategy Context Lab |
The Weather Score: Making Options Reads Actionable
Anyone selling premium regularly knows the analysis problem: IV rank, VIX term structure, realised vs implied volatility, earnings clustering — all live in different dashboards, and pulling them together into a single yes/no read on the day takes real time. VolRadar's answer is the Weather Score, a 0–100 composite of five inputs: Premium Edge (30%), VIX Regime (25%), Volatility Trend (20%), Earnings Safety (15%), and Term Structure (10%). The interpretation is straightforward — 65+ is a green light for broad premium selling, 40–64 means selective and high-confidence only, and sub-40 means sit out or size down. Where this becomes interesting is the adaptive strategy engine underneath. VolRadar doesn't just tell you conditions look good — for each ticker in the Scanner it selects up to three ranked strategies from a pool of seven defined-risk structures (covered calls, cash-secured puts, credit spreads, iron condors and others) based on the current regime, and pre-computes strikes, expected moves and P&L parameters. When conditions don't warrant a trade, the platform is explicit about that too. That last part — a system willing to tell you to do nothing — is genuinely rare in this category.
ORATS Data and a Published Methodology
The data foundation matters here. VolRadar pulls from ORATS, a professional-grade options data provider used by hedge funds and institutional volatility desks. That matters because the standard alternative — pulling implied volatility from a retail broker API — often produces noisy, poorly-modelled surfaces that don't reconcile with what serious traders see. Just as importantly, the methodology is public: the exact formula for the Weather Score, the component weightings, and even research VolRadar has explored and discarded are documented openly. For a category historically dominated by black-box scoring — 'trust our proprietary edge indicator' — publishing the full recipe is unusual and welcome. Around the core product, VolRadar has built out an 18-guide learn hub covering iron condors, credit spreads, wheels and volatility concepts, a 50+ term glossary, and a Strategy Context Lab drawing on 19 years of SPY short-put scenarios. It's more educational surface than most SaaS analytics tools ship with, and it's all free — a real bridge for traders still building comfort with the concepts.
Who Gets the Most Value
Theta-gang premium sellers
Every core workflow — CSP screening, covered call ranking, iron condor structuring — has a dedicated screener and pre-computed strike output
21–45 DTE credit spread + condor traders
Adaptive strategy engine and DTE optimiser align cleanly with the tastytrade-style ~45 DTE entry, 21 DTE management cadence
Wheel strategy traders
Dedicated wheel calculator, best-wheel-stocks screener, and paired CSP/CC coverage
Busy professionals & side-account traders
30-second morning check plus pre-open email delivery fits around a day job — the product is designed around this constraint
Learning options traders
18-guide learn hub, 50+ term glossary and a functional free tier is a rare on-ramp, but ease-of-use assumes you already know what a CSP is or are actively working through the guides
Futures / crypto / international options traders
Scope is US equities and ETFs — those markets aren't covered, so you'll pair with something else if that's your book
Pricing: Free That Actually Works, Paid That Doesn't Overreach
VolRadar's pricing is unusually restrained for a data-heavy analytics product. The free tier gives you the Weather Score, top 5 scanned tickers, the AI-generated Market Brief, one full ticker report per day, the Dealer GEX Map, and access to the calculators (expected move, DTE optimiser, wheel, income, options profit, put/call ratio, IV rank lookup). That's a real workflow for anyone selling premium on one or two positions at a time. Starter at $19/mo (or $171/yr — saves $57, 3 months free) unlocks the full 500-ticker Scanner, up to three ranked strategies per ticker, and the earnings-gated watchlist with the daily 8:30 AM ET email. Premium at $49/mo ($439/yr — 3 months free on annual) adds a daily rules-based playbook (one IWM model action per day), the SPY Premium Window read, and pre-open email delivery. Both paid tiers include a 7-day free trial plus a 14-day money-back guarantee, no card required for free-tier access, and Paddle handles VAT and sales-tax at checkout. For external context: Livevol Pro — the professional options analytics tier commonly benchmarked against tools drawing on comparable institutional data — starts around $420/mo per user (per Cboe DataShop pricing at time of writing). $19–49 for ORATS-backed daily analytics with pre-computed strikes is comfortably below institutional-tier alternatives.
Launchstag Editorial Ratings
30-second morning check with clear Weather-Score signposting; some options fluency is expected — the product assumes you already know what a CSP or credit spread is
$19/mo Starter with ORATS-backed data sits far below institutional-tier alternatives (Livevol Pro starts around $420/mo per user); free tier is a real workflow, not a demo
Weather Score consolidation plus an adaptive engine willing to say 'sit out' is a fresh take, though composite scoring itself isn't category-first
Comprehensive coverage of US equity/ETF premium selling; futures, crypto and international options are outside current scope (see cons)
Founder-led with responsive support, deep documentation and a published methodology; no live chat or dedicated account management
Best For
US equity and ETF options traders selling premium on defined-risk structures — cash-secured puts, covered calls, credit spreads, iron condors and the wheel — who want a single pre-market read on conditions plus pre-computed strikes across 500+ tickers, without pulling together five different dashboards.
Not Ideal For
Traders whose primary book is futures options, crypto derivatives or international equity options — those markets aren't in scope. Also less of a fit for pure directional traders (long calls/puts) who don't sell premium regularly.
Pros
- + Weather Score condenses five volatility signals into one 0–100 daily read — actionable in 30 seconds before the bell
- + Full Scanner across 500+ S&P 500 tickers with up to three pre-computed strategies per name, drawn from a pool of seven defined-risk structures
- + ORATS institutional-grade options data — same class of feed used by professional volatility desks
- + 18-guide learn hub, 50+ term glossary, and a fully published methodology with component weightings — no black-box scoring
- + Genuinely functional free tier: Weather Score, top 5 scanned tickers, AI Market Brief, one full ticker report per day, Dealer GEX Map, and calculators
- + $19/mo Starter and $49/mo Premium ship with a 7-day free trial plus 14-day money-back guarantee — comfortably below institutional-tier tools like Livevol Pro (~$420/mo per user per Cboe DataShop)
- + Adaptive strategy engine explicitly recommends sitting out when conditions don't warrant a trade — rare honesty in this category
Cons
- − Scope is US equities and ETFs — futures, crypto derivatives, forex and international options aren't in the mix, so multi-market traders will keep a second data source
- − VolRadar is a decision and analytics layer, not a broker — you'll still route orders through your existing platform, so teams looking for one-window screening plus execution will want to pair it with their broker
- − Premium's edge lives in one daily IWM model action plus the SPY Premium Window read — worth stress-testing against your actual routine on the 7-day trial to confirm the pre-open cadence fits
Verdict
VolRadar earns its place in a US equity premium seller's morning routine. The combination of ORATS-quality data, a Weather Score that turns five inputs into one honest read, up to three pre-computed strikes per ticker, and a genuinely usable free tier is a rare package at this price point — most tools drawing on comparable institutional data start well into three-figure monthly pricing and don't ship a free workflow at all. If you're already selling premium on CSPs, covered calls, credit spreads or the wheel and spending 45+ minutes each evening building tomorrow's candidate list, the free tier will pay for itself the first morning you use it. Start free (email only), run one morning check tomorrow to see the workflow, then decide — and if Starter's full scanner clicks, both paid tiers ship with a 7-day trial and a 14-day money-back guarantee behind that.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a paid plan to use VolRadar?⌄
No. The free tier includes the Weather Score, top 5 scanned tickers, the AI Market Brief, one full ticker report per day, the Dealer GEX Map, and the calculators — enough to run a real workflow if you're managing a small number of positions. Starter at $19/mo unlocks the full 500-ticker Scanner, up to three ranked strategies per ticker, and the earnings-gated watchlist with a daily 8:30 AM ET email.
Does VolRadar connect to my broker?⌄
No — VolRadar is a standalone analytics layer that uses publicly available and ORATS institutional-grade market data. You'll route trades through your existing broker (tastytrade, Schwab, IBKR, etc.). This keeps the tool broker-agnostic and avoids a broker-integration approval process.
What is the Weather Score based on?⌄
A weighted composite of five inputs — Premium Edge (30%), VIX Regime (25%), Volatility Trend (20%), Earnings Safety (15%) and Term Structure (10%). 65+ is a green light for broad premium selling, 40–64 means selective, and sub-40 means sit out or reduce sizing. The full formula and component weights are published openly on the methodology page.
Does VolRadar cover futures, crypto or international options?⌄
No — scope is currently US equities and ETFs (S&P 500 constituents plus major index ETFs). If your book includes /ES, /CL, BTC options or LSE-listed underlyings, you'll pair VolRadar with a second data source for those markets.
What's the refund policy if I try the paid tier?⌄
Both Starter and Premium include a 7-day free trial (no card required for the free tier). Paid tiers also carry a 14-day money-back guarantee, so there's a real evaluation window on both plans before your first billing cycle is locked in.