← Browse all charts Is implied volatility running hotter than realized volatility?
S&P 500 Realized Volatility vs VIX
A direct implied-versus-realized volatility comparison that pairs the VIX with trailing 20-day realized S&P 500 volatility.
The deep history is for NASDUCK paid members.
This free chart covers the last five years. Everything older, plus the CSV and JSON downloads, comes with a paid NASDUCK subscription.
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The latest series values and a keyboard-readable date table are below the chart. CSV and JSON downloads are for NASDUCK paid members.
Use Value for the raw series and % from view start to rebase the first visible value in the current window to 0%.
Dates & readable data
Selected historical events
Curated anchors for market context, rather than a complete news feed. Toggle markers above to place them on the chart.
How To Read It
- Volatility spikes show stress, but what matters most is whether volatility stays high or quickly mean-reverts.
- Rising volatility with flat prices usually signals a more fragile tape than the index headline suggests.
- Compare current levels with prior stress zones rather than treating every jump as equally important.
Next step Fear shows up here first. TradeWatch reads it every market day.
VIX and put/call tell you how nervous the market is. TradeWatch adds what people are actually piling into, plus earnings targets.