HKUDS/Vibe-Trading · error · ValueError

volatility is required

Error message

volatility is required

What it means

Fourth mandatory check in options pricing execute: volatility must be present and non-null before float() coercion.

Source

Thrown at agent/src/tools/options_pricing_tool.py:116

        Args:
            **kwargs: Must include spot, strike, expiry_days, volatility, option_type.
                     Optional risk_free_rate.

        Returns:
            JSON string containing price, delta, gamma, theta, vega, or an error
            envelope when an argument is missing or cannot be read as a number.
            ``risk_free_rate`` is optional and defaults to its schema value 0.05,
            so an explicit JSON ``null`` is treated as omission.
        """
        try:
            if "spot" not in kwargs or kwargs["spot"] is None:
                raise ValueError("spot is required")
            if "strike" not in kwargs or kwargs["strike"] is None:
                raise ValueError("strike is required")
            if "expiry_days" not in kwargs or kwargs["expiry_days"] is None:
                raise ValueError("expiry_days is required")
            if "volatility" not in kwargs or kwargs["volatility"] is None:
                raise ValueError("volatility is required")
            spot = float(kwargs["spot"])
            strike = float(kwargs["strike"])
            expiry_days = float(kwargs["expiry_days"])
            r_val = kwargs.get("risk_free_rate")
            r = float(r_val if r_val is not None and r_val != "" else 0.05)
            sigma = float(kwargs["volatility"])
            option_type = str(kwargs.get("option_type") or "")
        except (TypeError, ValueError, KeyError, OverflowError) as exc:
            # OverflowError: a JSON integer larger than a float (e.g. 10**10000)
            # raises it from float(), and it must not escape this envelope.
            return json.dumps(
                {"status": "error", "tool": "options_pricing", "error": f"invalid or missing input argument: {exc}"},
                ensure_ascii=False,
            )

        err = _validate_inputs(spot, strike, expiry_days, sigma, r, option_type)
        if err is not None:
            return json.dumps(

View on GitHub (pinned to 80ffdda44c)

Solutions

1. Pass decimal volatility, e.g. volatility: 0.2 (20%)
2. Fallback to an IV estimate or ATM approximation instead of null

Example fix

// before
tool.execute(spot=100, strike=105, expiry_days=30)
// after
tool.execute(spot=100, strike=105, expiry_days=30, volatility=0.2)

required = ("spot", "strike", "expiry_days", "volatility")
missing = [k for k in required if kwargs.get(k) is None]
if missing:
    raise ArgumentError(f"missing: {missing}")

def has_required_pricing_args(kw: dict) -> bool:
    return all(kw.get(k) is not None for k in ("spot", "strike", "expiry_days", "volatility"))

try:
    out = tool.execute(**kwargs)
except ValueError as e:
    if "volatility is required" in str(e):
        kwargs["volatility"] = fallback_iv(); retry()

When it happens

Trigger: Calling execute with spot, strike, expiry_days supplied but volatility absent or null.

Common situations: Volatility being optional in the caller's mental model, or IV lookup failing upstream and passing null through.

Understand the failure class

Background: Missing required parameter errors: what 'X is required' and 'the required X param is missing' mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 27 libraries.

Related errors

• spot is required
• strike is required
• expiry_days is required
• run_card_path or backtest_run_dir is required
• job_id is required for propose_cancel

AI-assisted analysis of HKUDS/Vibe-Trading@80ffdda44c (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a16b83ae2031d8b4. Report an issue: GitHub.