Crypto · Quantitative#250

Realized-vs-Implied Volatility Cone for Cycles

An hourly up/down market prices the chance the coin ends higher, which is really a statement about how much it can move in the time remaining. Compare the volatility the market is implying against what the coin has actually realised over the same hour-of-day across recent weeks, and the gap is tradeable. Crypto has strong intraday volatility patterns — the US open and the Asia session are not the same market — and cycle pricing rarely reflects them.

What you need to run it

  • Hour-of-day realized volatility history per coin, updated rolling
  • Conversion between an up/down price and its implied move for the time remaining
  • Session-aware calendar so weekend and holiday hours are modelled separately

Where this applies

Markets on Polymarket where realized-vs-implied volatility cone for cycles is the natural play:

  • Will Bitcoin be up at 9am ET today?
  • Will Ethereum be up at 2am ET tonight?
  • Will Solana be up at 4pm ET today?

Capabilities this demands

Model / quantData ingestionPatience

At a glance

CategoryQuantitative
MarketCrypto
Requirements3
CapabilitiesModel / quant, Data ingestion, Patience
VenuePolymarket (CLOB, Polygon)

Build it

Related crypto strategies

This is documentation, not advice. Poly Research & Robotics publishes how these strategies work because the method should be checkable — not as a recommendation to trade them. See the full strategy database (297 strategies) or the data resources directory.
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