vs Yesterday
−0.30
Quietly drifting lower as risk-on continues.
S&P 500 Implied Volatility (30d)
VIX · The Fear Gauge
14.50
-0.30 vs. yesterday (−2.0%)
Past 12 months12.80 – 22.50
RegimeCalm
5-Yr Avg19.20
2020 Peak82.69
VIX at 14.50 — firmly in "calm" territory. Option markets are pricing roughly ±4.2% S&P moves over the next 30 days. Down from the 52.30 spike in early April 2025 (Liberation Day tariffs).
Historical trend
Daily close.
Source: Cboe Volatility Index (VIXCLS via FRED)
The long view: since 1990
Every crisis is a spike. Every bull market is a long, low plateau.
Peak 82.69 · Mar 2020
Trough 9.14 · Nov 2017
Today 14.50
How today stacks up
vs Last Year
−1.40
Markets meaningfully calmer YoY.
5-Year Average
19.20
Today is well below the 5-yr mean.
Regime
Calm
VIX < 15 = complacency / true calm.
Use this number
Tools to read market risk.
About the VIX (Volatility Index)
The VIX — formally the Cboe Volatility Index, known as the "fear gauge" — measures the market's expectation of S&P 500 volatility over the next 30 days, derived from option prices. It's quoted in annualized percentage points. Today's 14.50 means the options market is pricing roughly ±4.2% S&P moves over the next month (14.50% ÷ √12). Lower VIX = calmer markets; higher VIX = more uncertainty.
How to read the levels
VIX below 15 typically signals complacency or genuine calm; 15–20 is "normal" range; 20–30 indicates elevated stress; above 30 means panic. The highest reading ever — 82.69 on March 16, 2020 during the COVID crash — captured a market repricing for genuine catastrophe. The lowest reading — 9.14 in November 2017 — captured an exceptionally calm bull market. Today's 14.50 sits in the "complacent / calm" zone.
Why the VIX matters
The VIX is widely used as a hedging instrument (via VIX futures and options) and as a sentiment indicator. Spikes above 30 historically correlate with buying opportunities in equities — the panic typically overshoots actual outcomes. Sustained sub-15 readings often precede minor pullbacks because complacency tends to be priced too cheaply by option markets. Today's reading suggests low expected risk over the next month.
Related trackers
Other live numbers that move with — or against — this one.
Frequently asked
What this number means, and what it doesn't.
It uses the prices of near-term S&P 500 options (puts and calls expiring 23-37 days out) to extract implied volatility. The formula is a weighted average of those option prices. Cboe recalculates the VIX every 15 seconds during trading hours.
Not directly — there's no spot VIX product. You can trade VIX futures on Cboe Futures Exchange or VIX options. ETFs like VXX track VIX futures (with significant decay over time due to contango). The VIX is best understood as a hedging tool, not a buy-and-hold investment.
VIX futures usually trade above spot VIX, especially for longer-dated contracts (contango). VIX ETFs roll futures positions monthly, so they buy high and sell low — bleeding value over time. VXX has lost over 99% of its value since inception in 2009, even though VIX itself averages around 19.
March 16, 2020 — 82.69 intraday. The COVID lockdowns drove the fastest equity drawdown in modern history (S&P fell 34% in 33 days), and option pricing reflected the chaos. The previous all-time high was 80.86 during the 2008 financial crisis.
Methodology
Source
Pulled from FRED · VIXCLS and cached on the EvvyTools server.
Update schedule
Refreshed automatically by our cron whenever the upstream source publishes a new value. Historical values are not revised after publication.
How we compute
Display value is the raw published number, unrounded. Comparison stats use the closest available reference date. We never edit the underlying data.