The VIX measures the market’s expectation of future volatility. We can think of the S&P 500/VIX ratio as a way to track confidence in stocks and earnings relative to confidence the market will be volatile. The S&P 500/VIX ratio is currently in the process of trying to complete a relatively rare longer-term shift.
Watch This Indicator for Approaching Volatility
The stock market’s volatility from late July through early October was extraordinarily low. For 50 straight days the S&P 500 had not closed more than 0.8% in either direction, the longest such streak since 1968.
Yet, on October 3, all that changed. The markets dropped hard… and the VIX suddenly spiked even harder.