A 3D SPY implied volatility surface in one line
Recorded in cvforge on May 15, 2026 by ConvexValue · Published July 25, 2026
"Create a 3D visualization of the $SPY IV Surface" — the entire prompt — returns a rotatable surface across every listed strike and expiration.
Exact prompt
Create a 3D visualization of the $SPY IV Surface
Data cadence
Live U.S. option snapshots, refreshed through the session. Open interest is an end-of-previous-day figure and updates once daily.
Plan requirements
Runs on the free cvforge app and the free data tier (20 requests/hour). No card needed.
Fields used
implied_volatility, strike_price, expiration_date, delta, underlying_price
How to read it
The shortest possible version of the request, included because the surface is the canonical example of something that is genuinely awkward to get elsewhere: it needs the full chain, across every expiration, with greeks, in one shape.
What you are looking at is the smile in one direction and the term structure in the other. A surface that rises as expirations shorten near the money is the ordinary pre-event pattern; one that rises toward the low strikes is the equity skew that is almost always present.
Change it
The prompt is the interface. Ask for a different ticker, a different expiration window, or an extra column in the same sentence style and the agent edits the app in place — you do not start over, and you do not wait for anyone to build it.
Limitations
- Snapshot data, not a transaction tape: the build reads the chain as it stands, so it cannot attribute a trade to a buyer or a seller.
- Open interest updates once a day, so an intraday volume/OI comparison is always this session’s volume against yesterday’s open interest.
- Contract coverage is U.S. listed equities, ETFs and indices. Indices use the I: prefix, for example I:SPX.
- Current per-contract valuation is Massive fair market value (FMV), a proprietary estimate. cvforge does not provide option bids, asks, midpoint, quote sizes, NBBO or last trades, and FMV is not an executable quote.
- The surface is drawn from listed strikes and expirations only; gaps between them are interpolation, not data.
- Low-volume, low-open-interest contracts can leave isolated implied-volatility observations that deserve less weight.
Related demos
- SPX 3D IV surface: six words, one working chart
- SPY against QQQ on delta and time, overlaid on one axis
- Comparing two volatility surfaces in the same 3D space
Search focus: spy iv surface 3d chart. Related: 3d volatility surface spy, iv surface visualisation free. Originally posted on X.