History of Market · The Chronicle of the U.S. Stock Market S&P 500
Gathering I · leaf 19 of 27
VIX · S&P 500 Fear Index

VIX · S&P 500 Fear Index — VIX — The Insurance Tab

VIX fear gauge — The option market's insurance premium on stocks — a mood thermometer.

A market-implied measure of 30-day volatility. VIX above 30 means investors are already paying to hedge the next risk event.

View the interactive chart Download raw JSON

What this page answers

The latest reading for VIX is 15.20 (2026-09-02). The series starts 1990-01-02 and holds 9264 observations; the long-run mean is 19.43, the all-time high 82.69 (2020-03-16) and the low 9.14 (2017-11-03).

A market-implied measure of 30-day volatility. VIX above 30 means investors are already paying to hedge the next risk event. The data is refreshed by the History of Market pipeline and published as a stable JSON endpoint for research, citation, and AI-agent use.

The plate

VIX · S&P 500 Fear Index — VIX — The Insurance Tab2040608020002010202030
Plate I.19 A market-implied measure of 30-day volatility. VIX above 30 means investors are already paying to hedge the next risk event. 2026-09-03

Latest Snapshot

Updated
2026-09-03
Latest value
15.22026-09-02
Observations
9,264
Sample
1990-01-02 – 2026-09-02

VIX — year-end readings

VIX — year-end readings
DateValue
2026-09-0215.20
2025-12-3114.95
2024-12-3117.35
2023-12-2912.45
2022-12-3021.67
2021-12-3117.22
2020-12-3122.75
2019-12-3113.78
2018-12-3125.42
2017-12-2911.04
2016-12-3014.04
2015-12-3118.21
2014-12-3119.20
2013-12-3113.72
2012-12-3118.02
2011-12-3023.40
2010-12-3117.75
2009-12-3121.68
2008-12-3140.00
2007-12-3122.50
2006-12-2911.56
2005-12-3012.07
2004-12-3113.29
2003-12-3118.31
2002-12-3128.62
2001-12-3123.80
2000-12-2926.85
1999-12-3024.76
1998-12-3124.42
1997-12-3124.01
1996-12-3120.92
1995-12-2912.52
1994-12-3013.20
1993-12-3111.66
1992-12-3112.57
1991-12-3119.31
1990-12-3126.38

Showing the 37 most recent of 9264 observations — the full series is in the JSON: https://historyofmarket.com/api/sp500/vix.json

Data & Source

GET /api/sp500/vix.json — Canonical dataset endpoint.

Exchange closing prices · Company filings · Robert Shiller · FRED · NBER.

FAQ

What is the latest VIX reading?

15.20 as of 2026-09-02. The long-run average is 19.43.

What period does the VIX data cover?

1990-01-02 through 2026-09-02 — 9264 observations.

Where does this data come from?

History of Market combines public market and macro datasets — exchange closing prices, company filings, Robert Shiller, FRED, NBER, and the UBS Global Investment Returns Yearbook (Dimson–Marsh–Staunton). The exact endpoint for this panel is linked below.

How often is it updated?

Daily-tier datasets refresh after the U.S. market close, with a broader weekly refresh on Sunday. The timestamp shown on this page comes from the JSON payload.

Can I use the data?

Yes, for research and education with attribution to History of Market. Upstream data sources retain their own terms.