VIX Is Not The Only Way To Measure Volatility

The recent plunge in the US stock market ended the extended run of tranquility in equity returns. The media's metric of choice to cite this change is the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, which surged earlier this week to the highest level in nearly three years, based on daily data. The upward explosion was even sharper on an intraday basis. As useful as the VIX is for quantifying market volatility, it's not the only metric at our disposal. This is a distinction worth considering if you're modeling volatility for tactical asset allocation strategies, forecasting risk, and related tasks.