The VIX Has Never Moved Like This!

There are a lot of superlatives about the stock market this week. It's the fastest correction ever, with just six sessions between the S&P 500 hitting a new record high and a 10 percent drawdown.

The VIX illustrates this trend clearly. Its overall level around 47 isn't all that high in the big scheme of things. Volatility hit 50 two years ago and in August of 2015. It also saw levels like this in 2010 and 2011. Of course, during October 2008, it went all the way up to 96.

But all of those increases unfolded over weeks and months. Never has the VIX risen this far, this fast.

We can see this clearly on TradingView. This weekly chart simply adds the Rate of Change indicator, with an interval of 1 period. It shows the VIX hasn't risen this quickly in a week since the data set began in the early 1990s.

So, while countless articles and talking heads will speak endlessly about this current move, at TradeStation we like to stick with charts and numbers. In this case, the picture's worth way more than a thousand words.