VIX Today: Latest Close, Chart and Guide

The VIX is the number most traders check when they want to know how nervous the U.S. stock market is. It comes from S&P 500 option prices and estimates how far the index is likely to move over the next 30 days. The box above shows the latest close and is updated after each U.S. trading day. Every Tuesday we also publish a longer analysis based on the Monday close, and all of them are listed at the end of this page with the closing level each one used.

Our Weekly Readings

• Latest close in our archive: 15.21 on October 12, 2026, against an archive low of 14.92 on August 31, 2026.
• Highest close in our archive: 18.67 on July 27, 2026.
• Coverage: 14 Monday sessions from June 22, 2026 to October 12, 2026, all below 20.

What the VIX Actually Measures

Cboe Global Markets calculates the VIX from the prices of S&P 500 index options. It blends a wide strip of out-of-the-money puts and calls from the two expirations that bracket a 30-day horizon, then interpolates the result to a constant 30-day maturity. The output is expressed in annualized percentage points. A VIX of 20 means the options market is pricing roughly 20% annualized volatility for the S&P 500.

Because it is built from option premiums, the VIX reflects what investors are willing to pay for protection. When fund managers rush to buy puts ahead of an uncertain event, premiums rise and the VIX goes up. When markets drift higher and hedges are allowed to expire, premiums fall and the VIX drifts down. That is why it is called the market’s “fear gauge,” although “the price of insurance” is closer to the truth.

The construction has two consequences. The VIX can rise before anything has happened, because traders only need to expect a large move. And it tracks the S&P 500 as a whole, so a single mega-cap stock can rise or fall 5% in a session without moving the VIX much.

Turning a VIX Reading Into an Expected Move

Since the VIX is annualized, it has to be scaled down before it says anything about a single day or week. The usual shortcut divides the VIX by the square root of the number of periods in a year: about 252 trading days, 52 weeks, or 12 months. The result approximates a one-standard-deviation move for the S&P 500 over that period, a band the index would stay inside roughly two-thirds of the time if returns were normally distributed.

At a VIX of 15, for example, the implied 30-day move is about 4.3% in either direction. These are rough sizes, not forecasts or trading ranges. Returns do not follow a smooth bell curve: quiet stretches are often followed by sudden gaps, and actual volatility can land well above or below what the VIX implied.

VIX Zones

There is no official rulebook for VIX levels. Our weekly posts use 20 and 30 as the main dividing lines. Because most weeks land below 20, this page also splits that range at 15 to separate unusually quiet markets from ordinary ones.

The VIX’s record closing low was 9.14 in November 2017, during an unusually quiet bull market. Its highest closes came in real crises: 80.86 in November 2008 during the global financial crisis and 82.69 in March 2020 during the pandemic crash. Most of the time the index sits in the teens, so a move from 15 to 25 is a bigger shift than the ten points suggest.

Why the VIX and the S&P 500 Usually Move in Opposite Directions

Stocks tend to fall faster than they rise, and sharp declines set off a scramble for downside protection. A falling S&P 500 therefore usually comes with a rising VIX, while a steady uptrend lets demand for protection fade and the VIX slowly declines.

When that pattern breaks, it is worth a closer look. If the S&P 500 drops but the VIX barely moves, the sell-off is probably orderly, driven by rotation or profit-taking rather than fear. If the S&P 500 rises while the VIX also climbs, traders may be hedging ahead of a known event, such as a Fed decision or a major earnings report. Our weekly posts compare the daily and weekly change in the VIX with SPY and QQQ to catch these cases.

The VIX Around Scheduled Events

Some of the largest swings in the VIX are predictable in timing, if not in direction. Implied volatility tends to build in the days before a Federal Reserve decision or a CPI or jobs report, because traders buy options to protect against a surprise. Once the news is out, that premium often drains away within hours, and the VIX can drop even if stocks barely move. Traders call this a volatility crush. Unscheduled shocks work differently: a sudden jump in the 10-year Treasury yield or a geopolitical headline can lift the VIX with no warning.

A VIX that rises into an event and falls right after is usually routine. A VIX that keeps climbing after the news is out suggests the event changed how investors see risk, and that is the case worth watching.

Spot VIX Versus the Term Structure

The headline VIX is a single 30-day point on a curve. Cboe also publishes shorter and longer measures, such as the 9-day VIX9D and the 3-month VIX3M, and VIX futures trade for many months ahead. In calm markets the curve usually slopes upward, known as contango, because uncertainty grows with time. During acute stress it can invert into backwardation, with near-term volatility priced above later months. An inverted curve is often a stronger stress signal than any round number on the spot index.

Common Mistakes When Reading the VIX

• Treating it as a direction signal. The VIX prices the size of expected moves, not whether they will be up or down.
• Using a fixed “buy at 30, sell at 12” rule. High readings can stay high for weeks, and low readings can last for months in a strong bull market.
• Confusing the index with VIX products. The spot VIX cannot be bought directly. Exchange-traded products track VIX futures, and in contango they tend to lose value over time through roll costs.
• Watching the level but not the trend. A jump from 13 to 18 in two sessions says more than a steady 19, and a single up day inside a falling weekly trend is usually noise.

Weekly VIX Analysis Archive

Every Tuesday we publish a VIX analysis based on the previous Monday’s official U.S. close, reading the VIX alongside SPY, QQQ, the largest technology stocks, Treasury yields, the dollar, oil, and the latest FRED data. Cboe updates the VIX throughout the trading day, so our posts use the official close to keep every number in an analysis tied to the same moment. Each date below links to the full analysis.

This page is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice. Please read our Financial Disclaimer.