There is this perception that VIX increases when Equities go down and that is most of the time true.
There is also this perception that VIX will go down when Equities go up and that can be very wrong.
In the past, when SP500 has started to increase very swiftly, this has been accompanied by a vol shift higher reflecting higher risk as levels are not confirmed through time.
Once the VIX starts to go up, you can expect higher moves both sides.
In 1995, both SPX and VIX started to increase and the top was only reached 5y later (just good to note that).
In 2007, the VIX started to climb in January.. 10months before the top.
Currently, the VIX started to climb from Jun14.
In this chart, the take away is that VIX is most probably aiming higher overall.
Comments
CosmicDust
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Agree. VIX measures volatility (uptrend and downtrend). High probable that VIX is heading higher from here, of course with up and downs (VIX can be volatile too, but its trend might be up from here).