Buy low, sell high. The trend is your friend. Sell in May and go away. Wall Street is teeming with familiar financial adages. But there’s one you may not have heard of: “When the VIX is high, it’s time to buy.”
But what is the VIX? Here the Investing News Network answers that question and more, including whether or not the old saying still holds true in times of heavy uncertainty.
The VIX tracks the S&P 500 as opposed to other indexes because it is considered the leading indicator of future volatility in the overall US stock market.
For many knowledgeable investors, the VIX is a globally recognized go-to benchmark index for measuring the expectation of volatility in the stock market over the next 30 days based on how wide or narrow the swing in prices is for S&P 500 options.
The VIX has an inverse relationship with the S&P 500, meaning that spikes in the VIX typically occur when stock prices drop.
The more pronounced the options price swings on the S&P 500, the higher the risk of stock market volatility and the higher the VIX climbs — a signal that a crash may be imminent. On the flip side, a significant drop in the VIX could herald a rally.
It’s important to note that the VIX is not a crystal ball, but rather a real-time snapshot of how investors are feeling about the level of near-term volatility in the market. Is the current sentiment negative or positive? Confident or fearful?
Investors can use the VIX to measure the level of fear in the market and employ this information when making investment decisions. The higher the VIX level, the more likely the possibility that fear and uncertainty is driving the markets.
Once VIX values rise above 20, the market is said to be experiencing “abnormally high volatility.” Once the VIX is seen pushing above 30, that’s a clear sign of a bear market — when investors fear there is too much uncertainty and risk in the stock market.
The VIX hit an all-time high of 82.69 on March 16, 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The index’s second highest value, 80.86, was reached on November 20, 2008, as markets reeled from the fallout over mortgage-backed securities.
The VIX recorded a record high spike on August 5, 2024, when it jumped 42 points to 65.73 intraday as markets around the world experienced sell offs and recession fears rose. This also marked the highest point of the VIX index since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The VIX moved down to close at 38.56 by the end of the day, still quite high but well below the top 10 closes discussed above.
While you can’t invest directly into the VIX, there are a number of exchange-traded products (ETPs), such as futures contracts, options contracts and ETFs, that are based on the future anticipated value of the index.
These are three VIX-associated ETPs available to investors:
This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2022.
Securities Disclosure: I, Lauren Kelly, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article
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